The Second Angel: Okazaki Chapter
by Benien Kurono Sora
Summary: After Ushio's Death, Okazaki was killed in a car accident. He ends up in the Afterlife caught in a war between The Second Angel and the new Battlefront. How will Okazaki get his life back? Or will he at all? And what's with the strange events going on?
1. Chapter 1: Prolouge

**This is the first chapter of my first story in a series of stories called The Second Angel Chronicles. It was meant to be an introduction to the main character of this story but someone who read this early on before I uploaded told me it looked more like a poem. I left it the way it was, though, as I liked it like this. The chapters from here on are normal third-person stories. Yes, this is Tomoya Okazaki from Clannad, by the way. So, please leave reviews so I can make this series better and better. And read the whole thing, please.**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

The wind swept over the abandoned street. Completely still, lay a man with short, dark blue hair. The man wore the standard uniform that all those here wore.

The man lay there, with sorrow across his face from a life of sadness.

This man will fight against the truth, looking for his own truth that does not exist.

This man is just like those who have come before him. Tortured, sorrowful, and could not accept the lives they had lived.

This man wanted retribution for the unfair life that had been thrust upon him by God. For everything that God had taken away from him. He felt that he deserved a new life. A new chance. But, this man died a horrible death, dirtied on the street, run over without a single soul that would come to his aid.

_What a pitiful life_, the man would think to himself.

This man had a name, as did all who walk upon this strange world.

His name, you ask? Tomoya Okazaki.

But. This man should not be in this world. This man was too old for this world. This world was for the youth of Earth who could not accept the hell of their lives.

So why was this man here? Why was a person who should not be there, be there in the first place.

It is inconceivable.

But this whole world is inconceivable and impossible. So this situation is more possible than originally thought.

So this situation that should be completely impossible but when compared to the whole of the impossibilities of every impossibility here, is actually quite possible and it feels like such a possible but still impossible matter. Yet at the same time, due to the man's existence, still possible.

Actually, this situation had happened twice before. The first time will be left along while second time is actually more important that you may originally begin to believe.

But enough of that.

Right now, we must focus on this man.

For this man is finally waking.

I will start the story here.

This man and the people around him are going to go through much hardship and pain in this brief period of time.

This man, will soon come into contact with the Second Angel.

Prepare yourself.


	2. Chapter 2: The Battlefront

**Hey, thanks for starting the second chapter. This one introduces the second and third main characters, including the Battlefront's newest leader and the Second Angel. It probably isn't too hard to guess who the Second Angel is, haha. It also introduces a few of the Battlefront's members, as well. So, as always, enjoy and please leave some reviews.**

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

"Damn," groaned Okazaki, "What the hell happened? And where am I?"

"So, you're finally awake are you?"

Okazaki looked up toward the origin of the voice. There was a girl standing over Okazaki's motionless body. She was about the normal height for a girl, she had a ponytail, black as the night sky, going down past the middle of her back. She looked to be quite fit and a slender build.

"What the hell are you doing up there?" Okazaki asked her. He was having a little trouble comprehending such a strange situation first thing after waking. Not to mention his killer headache wasn't helping much either.

"Oh nothing," she replied "just standing over our newest member." She looked quite pleased with herself for some reason.

Newest member?" Okazaki asked here. "Who, me?"

"Duh, dumbass. Who else is around here for me to be talking about? Casper the Friendly Ghost?"

_What the hell is Casper the Friendly Ghost? _thought Okazaki.

He took a look around after that thought and he couldn't see anyone else that she could be talking about. "So, what, exactly, am I the newest member of?" He was already starting to get tired of this girl. He just wanted to go home.

But something was off about the place he was at. He didn't recognize any of it. Not only that, but it looked like he was at the top of a stadium's stands. Just as he realized this, the girl replied, "The I-Ain't-Dead-Yet Battlefront.

Okazaki gave this girl the stupidest look he could muster. He was stunned after all. He wakes up in an unfamiliar location, with a strange girl standing over top of him, telling him he is the newest member of some strange group or organization know as the I-Ain't-Dead-Yet Battlefront. The day was getting weirder and weirder by the moment.

"Okay then," Okazaki said. "What, exactly, does this 'Battlefront' do and why would be the newest member, let alone having the slightest bit of interest in joining this strange group in the first place?" He was starting to lose patience with this strange girl pretty quickly.

"Because," she said, "you're dead."

Okazaki was so taken aback by how matter-of-fact that she had said it. It took him a moment for his mind to process the phrase that came with too little emotion to be meaning what the words actually mean. By the time he understood fully what she had just said his denial was overshadowed by the way this girl had stated it that he almost started to believe what she just said.

Okazaki cleared his mind and turned to the girl. "So. According to you, I'm dead." he said.

"Exactly."

"Uh-huh." After a pause, he says "Are you some kinda retard?'

The girl didn't seem to be the least bit phased by his remark and replied, "Nope. I'm perfectly sane."

Okazaki sighed and said, "There is no way I'm dead. Look! I still have a body! I'm not some freaking ghost."

She laughed pretty hard at that. "Well, of course," she said. "This is the Afterlife, not Heaven."

He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Afterlife? Was that some sort of crazy joke? He was obviously alive. Something like that wasn't quite feasible to him and he wouldn't accept it.

He looked around and saw a guy walking around inside the stadium's field. "I think I am gonna go and talk to the guy walking around down there," he told her.

She instantly started screaming. "Are you out of your freaking mind? Well? Do you want to die?"

Okazaki just laid there, staring at her, dumbfounded, from her sudden outburst.

"Well?" she asked. "Was it funny?"

"Eh?"

She sighed and straightened up. "It's a joke specifically for this world. Well, since you can't die and all."

That statement surprised Okazaki. "Can't die?"

"Well duh. You're already dead." Again with the matter-of-fact tone.

"Would you just stop it? It's completely obvious that I am _not_ dead. Why are you trying to screw with me? Is this Battlefront thing just some sort of trick to rob me or something?"

Okazaki was really starting to get heated. "I'm gonna go talk to someone same rather than a freak like you."

He got up and started walking down the stairs heading to the field where that other person was walking around.

The girl tried to stop him, yelling that she was telling the truth and the guy walking around down there was a very dangerous person.

"I doubt it, but at least he ain't some sorta freak like you are." He stopped for a second and sighed. "I hope," he said, and resumed walking.

He walked down the stairs with the girl yelling after him the he can always trust her no matter what may happen and that when it does happen, she will be there to help him.

"Stop screwing with me! I'm _not _dead!"

"If you talk to him," she yelled, "you'll be erased! Do you understand that? Do you really want that?"

He finally reached the guy standing in the field.

"Hey!" he yelled to the stranger. "I need someone sane to explain to me where the hell I am." He lightly jogged up to the guy.

"Yeah?" the guy asked him.

_Good_, thought Okazaki, _this guy seems normal._

The boy had light orange-colored hair, about the same height as himself, but definitely younger. Though something about him have Okazaki the feeling that this man had seen many people just as confused as himself.

Okazaki starts quite quickly for the simple fact that he wanted answers and he was going to get them no matter what.

"Okay, I woke up just a bit ago with no freaking clue where I was and this really weird girl was standing over top of-"

"Whoa, Whoa. Calm down now, and tell me slowly. I'm not getting anything out of that fast, garbled speech of yours. So slow down, start with your name, and tell me what happened.

"Sorry," he apologized, "and my name is Tomoya Okazaki.

So he slowed down and told the guy about how he woke up in an unknown place with some strange girl standing over him. He told him how this girl said that he was the newest member of some weird group called the I-Ain't-Dead-Yet Battlefront and that he was dead and in the Afterlife.

"But you are."

He wasn't expecting that answer and he quickly jerks his head towards the boy.

"What?" he asked.

"You are dead," the boy said. "This is the Afterlife."

Okazaki stood there stunned for a moment.

"You're in on this too, aren't you?" he yells at the boy, pointing his finger at him. "Then prove it to me you bastard! Prove to me that I am already dead and that I can't die. Prove it!"

The boy started to laugh. "You sound exactly like when I first arrived here. I yelled something quite similar to Kanade and ended up in the infirmary." The boy starts to pull something out of his jacket. It was a handgun.

Startled, Okazaki starts to back up. "What the hell are you going with a gun! They're illegal! How did you even get it?"

"Nothing is illegal in the Afterlife, you know." The look on the boys face suggested that he has done whatever he was about to do, or at least something similar, plenty of times in the past. That he was used to it.

"Bull!" Okazaki screamed. "I'm not dead!"

The boys sighed and said, "You'll realize soon enough." He pointed the gun at Okazaki with his finger in the trigger, completely still. It seems he has used that gun many times in the past and has become very skilled with it. He felt that the boy could hit any target, spot on.

"Come on, please." Okazaki was shaking in terror. He didn't want to die. He had just woken up. "Please don't do this!"

"Don't worry," the boy told him. "It'll only hurt for a little bit.

"No," he begged. "Please don't!"

Okazaki was sweating and shaking in fear. He had a terrible life but of sadness only. Never once had he felt any fear for he had never been in a situation where fear had presented itself. The sensation was new too him.

"Sorry." The boy pulled the trigger and the gunshot rang throughout the still, silent night.

Okazaki felt a thud in his stomach and looked down at himself. There was a hole in his shirt and the blood stains were spreading all through it. His vision was fading and his senses were dulling.

He falls to the ground, motionless yet still. But conscious.

Right before he loses consciousness, he hears he boys say, "By the way, Okazaki-san, my name is Yuzuru. Yuzuru Otonashi."

When Okazaki awoke, he was on a cot in what appeared to be a school's infirmary.

He sat up in a split second and checked his stomach for a bullet wound. There was no wound, no bullet, scar, or anything.

He sighed. "Holy hell, it was just a dream."

He looked around for his shirt and found on a chair next to his cot. "I guess I must have passed out drunk and Sanae found me. Guess she brought me back and changed my shirt since it was probably covered in sweat and most likely vomit. Wouldn't be the first time."

He picked up the shirt, and instantly, realization hit him lit a baseball bat to the gut.

The shirt was soaked blood. There was a hole where the bullet had hit him in his dream. Which means, "It wasn't a dream!"

Okazaki throws the shirt to the ground and jumps out of bed, rushing to get dressed, albeit without the shirt. He puts on the jacket that was lying next to the shirt and sprints out of the infirmary running with all his strength. The hallways pass him by at high speeds as he takes off looking for someone, anyone, that can tell him what was happening.

_You are dead._

_This is the Afterlife._

_But you are._

_Afterlife._

_Dead._

All the things he was told the previous day flashed through his mind in a rush as he sprinted through the hallways.

_No way!_ he thought. _There is no freaking way!_

_You'll be erased!_

That single phrase the strange girl from yesterday told him came to his mind.

_Yeah,_ he thought, _if all this crazy shit is real, if I really am dead, I'll just get erased and this freaky nightmare will be over! Maybe, just maybe, I can start anew and who knows, maybe I will get Ushio back. Spend those five whole years I acted as a stranger to her as a real father to the poor girl. I left her alone for far too long. She spent the first five whole years of her life without a father. I really am a bastard._

_Just as I was becoming a real father to her, she… she… _

Okazaki started crying as he ran through the hallways. He wiped his tears and renewed his search.

As he ran through the school, he soon realized that there was no one there. Not students, faculty, or teachers. He hadn't noticed because he hadn't been paying attention. There was no one.

_If it's a weekend_, he thought, _if it's a weekend that would make sense. But if it _is _a weekend then the principal should be here at least!_

He stops and takes a look at the nearby guest directory, and resumes running in the direction of where the sign indicated the location of the principal's office was at.

He was completely drained of energy by the time he had reached the office.

Just as he had grabbed the door knob, well, lo and behold, a massive hammer swung down from the ceiling and smashed him straight through the window. The last thing he remembers before going unconscious, was flaying through the daytime sky.

He woke up in a strange room. In this room there were a few people arguing. He saw the girl from the previous day and a few others all bickering about something.

"Listen to me!" yelled some short guy with long, greased back, black hair. He also had a stocky build, and looked like he could easily beat anyone in a fight. "We almost lost this newbie! If it wasn't for the fact that he was a retard to go up and as Angel to prove he couldn't die, Angel would probably have a new ally! We need a new method of recruiting. One that does not involve us telling them they are dead first thing right to their faces."

The girl from before crossed her arms, agitatedly, and replied, "I don't see any problem with it." She obviously wasn't going to give in, but from Okazaki's experience, the short guy was right. "If they can handle being told that to their face right away, that would just prove their strength. I mean, come on, the First Generation did it!"

"We aren't the First Generation!" yelled a blonde boy with glasses. His hair spiked up in the back, with bangs curving around his glasses. "We're nothing compared to them! They were the highlight of the Battlefront. They had the numbers, supplies, and influence to effectively fight the first Angel."

"Not only that," said another boy with short, blood-red hair and an average build, "we know nothing about the First Generation other than a few basics and the names of the leader Yuri Nakamura and co-founder Hinata Hideki. I'm sure they did more than just blurt it right out to their faces."

The short guy continued to yell. "Right! If this guy wasn't such an idiot he'd already be-"

"You know, I don't really appreciate being called an idiot. Especially not twice." Okazaki decided to speak up from his eavesdropping after he had been called an idiot for the second time, that he knew of.

"I could hear you this entire time, you know. And I'm not an idiot."

"Oh! The dumbass is awake!"

A voice behind him startled him for he hadn't previously noticed her sitting next to his lying body. He then proceeded to glare at her for calling him a moron.

"Now can you guys explain to me what the hell happened when I tried to enter the principal's office?" asked Okazaki.

"You were taken out by the Guardian Hammer," said the girl from the other day.

Okazaki was somewhat stunned by the fact that a school had such an enormous hammer, let alone one at all, guarding the principal's office. "And why is there a giant hammer guarding the principal's office?"

They boy with glasses replied to him, "We believe it was used to guard the First Generation's headquarters of the I-Ain't-Dead-Yet Battlefront"

"Which just happens to be this place and is the reason you got whacked," said the short boy.

"So," said Okazaki. "I really am dead?"

"You're finally beginning to accept the truth?" asked the girl from the previous night.

"Well, after being shot in the stomach and smashed out the window by a giant hammer and still being alive, let one escaping without a single injury to speak of does kinda drill that fact into ya," Okazaki stated.

"Yup," she said. "You finally understand."

"No," he replied, "I don't understand. Not at all. But I have come to terms with things that I have personally experience and can no longer deny."

"Fair enough," she said. "Okay, how about we do introductions first and then you can come with me and I'll give you the rundown on everything I know."

"Hey, just hold on a sec," said the short guy. "You sure we can trust this guy?"

"I'm sure we can. He's experienced the wrath of Angel, Albeit that was totally his own fault, so I don't see him betraying us."

"I never said I'd join you," Okazaki stated, "I just want to know what the hell is going on. Then maybe, repeat maybe, I'll consider it. Either that or get erased."

They all shot him a deathly look simultaneously.

"What?"

"Are you serious?" asked the short boy.

"Guys, guys how about we all calm down and I'll explain that to him later," the girl from the other day said. "Okay? Good. Now lets do the introductions, boy."

He didn't like being called "boy" by some girl who was obviously younger than him by a marginal amount.

"Okay," she said. "My name is Ellie. Ellie Simmons. I'm the current leader of this little rebellion that we all seem to call our home.

_Rebellion? _

The short guy was the next to introduce himself. "My name is Cory Hampton." He didn't seem to happy. "I don't trust you, you little bastard so don't try anything funny or you ass is cooked. And don't act like you are older and better than us. You're not."

_This kids got a hell of an attitude,_ Okazaki though. _Reminds me of myself in high school._

The short girl that was sitting next to him introduced herself then. "Hiya dumbass, my name is Tsubaki Katakawa. Don't even think about something perverted or making a move on me or I'll castrate you myself. A few hundred times over." She then proceeds to pulls out an incredibly large, serrated knife from its sheath at her side. She's got what someone would call, under normal circumstances, a very cute smile and laugh.

_Scary chick,_ though Okazaki. _Don't plan on messing with her like I would Fuko._

Okazaki startled himself. He just said the name of someone that he doesn't know. _Fuko? Wait. Who is that? I don't even know anyone by that name._

Tsubaki put that crazy knife back into its sheath and sat back down.

Next was the blonde boy.

Next was the blonde boy with glasses.

"My name is Gale Withers. You could basically say that I am the guy that keeps all these people on check. Please, do not add an extra load onto my already stressed self by being some sort of fool."

Okazaki didn't like this guy.

"Well that was rude Gale," said the guy with red hair. "They guy just got here and has no clue what is happening. Cut him some slack, man. I mean, come on, Cory and Tsu-chan are the only ones that really need watching."

"Watch it!" both Cory and Tsubaki hissed at the same time.

He laughs and turns to Okazaki. "My name is Carter Manson. Don't worry, buddy, I'll be nice." He laughs again.

_He seems to be a good guy, _thought Okazaki. _Maybe he'll be of more use than these _other _people._

Okazaki then spoke up and gave his own introduction. "My name is Tomoya Okazaki. I'm not sure what this place is and I'm not sure that I am gonna join whatever this little group of yours is. I'll consider it after I listen to what you have to say." He sighed, "And stop acting like you are all superior you bunch of high school brats."

Unsurprisingly, Cory got all fired up at that. "Who're you calling brats? You're a high schooler too y'know!"

"I graduated high school a long time ago."

"Oh really. Then how old are you, bastard?"

"Twenty-five."

They all stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. The only person to stay calm was Ellie.

"You really _are _a dumbass!" yelled Tsubaki. "No one here is that old. This world _is _a purgatory for the Earth's youth that couldn't accept their unfair lives."

Okazaki was a little surprised. He wasn't expecting answers so soon into it. A purgatory? For the youth of the Earth who could not accept their horrible, unfair lives. Then why was some like himself who was past the prime of his youth, albeit a horrible youth, but a youth all the same.

"Yes," said Gale. "So don't even try to lie to us."

"But I'm not lying! I really am telling the truth! My youth sucked too but…" That is when he realized something. But for some reason he felt as he should not speak what was currently on his mind so he dismissed it and continued with his argument. "But I really am telling the truth!"

"I believe you."

Okazaki turned to the voice who said those faithful words. It was Carter.

"You're too trusting Carter," declared Gale.

"I think you need to be more trusting, Gale, rather than blocking off your heart off to everyone that you meet," Carter retorted quickly and with great conviction.

Gale pushed up his glasses and crossed his arms but said nothing.

Carter continued, "Until we came first came here, a world like this seemed impossible. Now we are here and its normal for us, but just as when we were alive we are blowing off something we haven't seen before as impossibilities. We thought a world like this was impossible but here we are. Just because something cant be proven through our own senses or scientifically, especially scientifically, does not mean it is impossible."

"You make a very good point," Ellie declared. "I think you are right. I think that humans are too grounded in the reality of what they can prove. They won't believe what they can't see. I believe Okazaki. I mean, he does seem to have a few years on us."

The others sighed and gave in.

"Fine," said Cory. "But I still won't trust him. At least, not until he proves himself."

"And how am I supposed to prove myself?"

"Just like everyone else," said Ellie as she jumps off the desk that she was sitting on. "With missions.


	3. Chapter 3: Mission and Warfare

**Thanks for enjoying my series so far. This chapter has a few surprises thrown into it as well. Hope you enjoy. Please leave some reviews as well. As to Otonashi's strange personality, there is a reason for this. It will be explained in a later chapter.**

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

Okazaki was standing at a small bridge at the very back of the designated mission zone. He was given the location since it would be "easy" for a newbie like himself.

He held up the handgun that Ellie had given him.

"What did she call this thing again?" he asked himself. "A Glock wasn't it? Something like that."

Okazaki thought back to an hour ago when Ellie explained their mission…

"Since we have a newbie," Ellie said, "we'll be doing Operation Tornado."

Cory smiled and said, "Sounds like fun." Okazaki could tell that he enjoyed these "missions" very much. Almost as if he lived for them and nothing else. Like they were the only things that kept him here.

"It is out simplest mission so you should not have to worry about anything complicated or extremely difficult. But it tends to be quite high octane if the situation were to arise that Angel was to show his face," stated Gale. He didn't seem please for some reason.

Ellie walked up to him holding something in her right hand. It was a gun.

"Holy crap," sighed Okazaki as she walked right to him. "Where the hell do you guys get all these freaking guns? If there some sorta Afterlife black market?"

She laughed at that. "More or less. In this world, you can make anything out of dirt as long as you know how to make it and how to make it work. So we got some guys making them for us."

Okazaki just stared at her. He was more than a bit skeptical on whether or not that was the truth. "Isn't that just a bit too convenient"

"Get used to it," she told him. "Now, I'm gonna give you a small time location on this mission. Somewhere you can be useful yet not get in the way of the guys who can really pull their own weight.

_Damn, this girl's blunt._

"Talk to Gale for your exact location," she said.

Gale grunted.

"So that is why you seem to be in a crappy mood," Okazaki said to Gale while chuckling. Gale just pushed up his glasses, grunted, and crossed his arms, though he said nothing in reply.

Ellie handed Okazaki the handgun and told him, "This is called a Glock 19 Generation 4. Just point and shoot, okay? If we hear you shoot, we'll come running and give you back up."

"Yeah, whatever." Okazaki felt that he had just been drafted into the military and is being thrown into combat without an ounce of training. Then again, that is what is happening, isn't it?

"So what are we gonna be doing on this so called 'mission?" asked Okazaki. He was still quite skeptical about all this, but was gonna go along with it in hopes that he'll be able to get some answers.

"Nothing big," she said. "Just lifting the students' meal tickets."

He couldn't believe his ears. He was completely surprised, yet at the same time he wasn't, that they were going to do something as petty as stealing meal tickets from the other students. He thought they were some sort of "Battlefront" as they called themselves, or at least a somewhat respectable group, not a bunch of thieves.

"Tsu-chan!" Ellie yelled.

"What?"

"Get GirlDeMo and get ready."

"Yes ma'am! We'll blow the entire school away. They won't know what hit 'em. You wont have to worry at all. Well, about us at least. Those dumbasses are a totally different story."

Okazaki, Cory, Gale, and Carter all threw dirty looks at Tsubaki but she just stuck her tongue out at them and ran out the door, probably headed for this GirlDeMo group.

"Okay everyone," Ellie announced. "Operation start!"

This leaves us where we were earlier.

Okazaki was sitting on the railing of the bridge waiting for something, anything, to happen.

"Damn," he said to himself. "I didn't get to ask what that GirlDeMo thing was." He stared down at his shoes. He was bored out of his mind. It reminded him from before me met Nagisa.

His thoughts drifted back to when he was still alive. When he lived his completely meaningless life.

He thought of when he first met Nagisa. She was standing at the bottom of the hill, scared to go up it to the school. She was talking to herself, saying how much she loved the school but everything had changed.

She seemed so miserable back then, but no matter what happened she never gave up. She kept on living. She was happy just being alive, even if her only friends were her parents.

But she made new friends. Kyou, Fujibayashi, Sunohara, Tomoyo, Kotomi, and even Fuko.

Okazaki jumped. That name came up again. The name of a person that he had never met before. _Who was this person_, he thought to himself. He had a feeling that she was a very important person to him, even though he was sure he has never met someone by that name.

All of a sudden, incredibly loud music started to play from the cafeteria. Rock music to be exact. Sounded alternative. The lyrics started and Otonashi nearly fell off the railing. It was obviously Tsubaki's voice. He couldn't believe it. It was the psycho, Tsubaki singing with such an amazing voice. It was almost unthinkable.

_So_, he thought, _I guess that means that GirlDeMo is the name of a band. And from how everyone made it sound, it was some sort of distraction._

He balanced himself back on the railing listening to the music with a newfound respect for Tsubaki.

The music drew him in and calmed him down. The music may have a an intense, powerful sound to it, but the lyrics could both calm or energize a person depending on their mood.

"Ah. Crow Song. Brings back so many wonderful memories. She's good but she ain't nothing like Iwasawa-san was."

He fell off the railing is surprise and came back up right away after seeing the person. He was already aiming the handgun at the boy.

It was Otonashi. The Second Angel.

"When they hell did you get here?" Okazaki asked him.

"I don't know what you mean. I have been here the entire time listening to some very nostalgic music while you were lost in your own thoughts."

Ellie's words came back to him.

"Otonashi is the Second Angel," she had told him. "He replaced the original Angel after the First Generation defeated it. The entire First Generation had suddenly disappeared along with the First Angel. By the time we had arrived here, Otonashi had already replaced the original. Apparently, he follows mostly all the same methods as the original. Like how you got shot. You asked him to prove you couldn't die and to him, that is like asking him to show you where the bathroom is. And this is all from the conclusion we have drawn from what little information we have on the subject of the First Generation Battlefront and the First Angel. But there are probably some flaws due to lack of information."

"What the hell do you mean by nostalgic?" Otonashi yelled. "You replaced the First Angel didn't you? So you shouldn't know anything about GirlDeMo!"

Otonashi laughed. He looked to be enjoying this little exchange. "How do you know if their information is correct or not? Maybe they have drawn the wrong conclusion due to misinformation and lack of information."

"B-but… But they…" Okazaki couldn't counter back. What he said made so much sense, almost saying exactly what Ellie had told him at the end of her "Otonashi is an enemy" speech. It actually made him second guess the Battlefront.

"The current Battlefront knows almost nothing about the original. They are drawing their own incorrect conclusions out of horrible lack of correct information and a surplus of completely redundant information which was all they have been able to currently gather. The old Battlefront died too quickly to leave any relevant information for this generation. With what you have now, this generation will never understand the original."

Okazaki didn't know why, but Otonashi seemed knew a lot about the First Generation. Almost as if he was part of the First Generation.

As if he was part of the First Generation.

Part of the First Generation.

Okazaki's eyes widened at the thought. _Could that be the case?_ he thought. _Could Otonashi actually be part of the First Generation? _He began to remember another thing that Ellie had told him.

"It is believed," she mentioned before, "that there is one member from the First Generation still here, but we have yet to find any evidence to support that."

"I recommend that you take caution about the information you are given from your Battlefront friends. I will never diss the battlefront but that doesn't mean it can't fall into disrepair. So be careful. I don't want you to fight for incorrect convictions. I don't want you to end up hurting _her_."

Otonashi got back up and started walking back the way he came.

"Wait!" Okazaki yelled at the retreating Otonashi. "Wait you bastard, tell me more! What do you mean, damnit? Who is 'her? And why should I be careful?"

Otonashi just kept on walking.

"You son of a bitch!" Okazaki pointed his gun at Otonashi and pulled the trigger releasing a warning shot.

But.

He got lucky.

Or should I say, he got...

Unlucky. Very unlucky.

The bullet just happened to bury itself into the back of Otonashi's neck.

He stopped in his tracks.

Okazaki froze. He didn't mean to hit him. He just wanted to get the guy's attention. _Shit, he's gonna be totally pissed!_

Otonashi sighed and turned around.

"Y'know," he said. "I had planned on giving you guys a bit of slack today, but I guess I should teach you people a little lesson in group punishment. Something I picked up from Yuri."

"Hand Sonic, Version 6," Otonashi said to himself.

After he said that, Otonashi took out two, repeat two, massive blades. More like swords. Each one was the length of his arm. Not only that, he pulled them put of thin air. Out of absolute nothingness.

"How the hell did you do that?" Okazaki screamed.

Otonashi replied only with the phrase, "Angel Player."

Okazaki was shocked. He didn't know what this Angel Player was, and right now, he didn't care. His shock turned to fear and he was then on the run. He stopped periodically to fire shots at Otonashi who was just casually walking forward.

But none of his shots landed.

Each time one even got close, Otonashi would just swat it away with his blades as if it were a fly.

Okazaki kept on running, sweat pouring down his face, his vision fading. He was even running out of adrenaline. He was slowing and just about to collapse with Otonashi standing over him when another gunshot rang out.

Otonashi quickly averted himself to avoid the near perfect shot and Okazaki used the distraction to escape.

He looked at the direction that the shot had come from and saw Ellie, the others, and a large number of other people who Okazaki assumed were other members he had yet to meet.

He turned and ran to meet up with them. Just as he arrived, though, Cory walked up and punched Okazaki straight in the nose sending him into the air, back a few feet and hitting the ground with a bone crushing thud.

Clutching his nose, Okazaki yells at Cory, "What the hell was that for?"

Cory came and picked Okazaki up by the collar and growled in his face, "What the hell did you do?"

"What do you mean?" Okazaki yelled in reply.

Carter dragged the two of them behind a wall with everyone else, and with a calmer disposition, told him, "Angel has only ever pulled out Hand Sonic Version 6 once." Carter also seemed quite distressed. "We tried to do a war of attrition. Angel got tired of the constant fighting and pulled out a weapon we had never seen before. That was Hand Sonic Version 6."

Ellie continued for him, "It was a massacre." Even her, of all people, seemed scared. "He tore through our forces like a hot knife through butter. A force of almost three-hundred. Completely wiped out in a matter of seconds." Ellie's whole body was shaking. "Our corpses were littered everywhere. Hand Sonic Version 6 has unimaginable power. Over ninety percent of our forces left and started acting like model students after that! What did you do that would make him pull that out?"

Okazaki was horrified. He never would have imagined that Otonashi could have been so dangerous. Such horrific power placed onto the shoulders of a single person.

"Why would a person like Otonashi have such terrible power?" he asked them.

"Because he isn't a person!" yelled Cory. "He's a bloody Angel! Angel of Death in my opinion."

For some reason, Okazaki didn't believe that Otonashi was actually an Angel.

"All I did was shoot him!" Okazaki yelled. "I swear. There was some… weird stuff that happened before that, but nothing that should have set him off like this! I swear I'm telling the truth!"

Cory yelled at him again, spitting as he screamed, "What weird stuff?"

Just as he finished saying that, a massive explosion went off a little ways a way, but the force of it was still strong enough to blow them off their feet and send them all flying backwards.

"This is no time to be arguing!" Ellie ordered. "Right now, we need to prioritize fighting Angel! We'll talk about this later! Now! Everyone to combat positions! Gale!"

"Yes?"

"Get on the horn and call everyone."

"Everyone, ma'am?" he stammered a little at this.

"Everyone. And tell them, the Second Angel is coming at strength level 6."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Everyone, move it now! Do not get caught standing still! Spread out and keep your distance from each other to minimize casualties! Go! Now!"

As soon as she dismissed everyone, they all took off based on their own discretions.

But it was still a massacre.

Just as one of the people that Ellie had brought with her left cover, one of the massive blades Otonashi had been wielding, flew by a pretty much light speed. You couldn't see it and it caught the poor guy by the neck and pinned him to one of the buildings behind us.

Otonashi's other blade became a handgun with some type of explosive round. He always hit his mark and he sent person after person flying back in explosive fire. Sometimes buildings and the ground were shot to cause maximum damage to anyone caught too close together or behind cover.

Okazaki just stood there from his cover and watched the hell unfold. More and more members of the Battlefront flooded in from all different locations. On top of buildings, through alleyways, every place you could think of on a boarding school campus.

But they were wiped out before they could do anything.

Just then, Otonashi started to raise his arms.

"Hey, Ellie!" Okazaki yelled. "What the hell is he doing? He's raising his arms."

Ellie jumped, with a terrified look on her face, as if what Okazaki had just said was the equivalent of the world ending. She ran and peaked around the corner. Her face had a look of indescribable fear.

She sprinted over to the radio and took it right out of Gale's hands. She called the GirlDeMo group first. "Tsubaki! Quit the show now! Get everyone out of there! Retreat. Angel is using Meteorite Strike! Repeat! Retreat!"

She then started contacting all channels yelling similar messages to each one.

Then it happened.

The largest explosion that Okazaki had ever seen, whether in a movie or otherwise, happened incredibly close to their proximity. The force tears apart every building in the vicinity and sends them and all the bodies around them in every direction.

Okazaki hit the wall but still remained conscious.

He looked over to Otonashi who appeared to be starting another one of these "Meteorite Strikes" when he heard a voice.

The voice screamed, "Yuzuru, stop it!"

The voice was a high, squeaky voice. One that seemed so familiar to him. He looked over at the person who had this familiar voice.

It was a short girl. With long dark, gray hair. She looked more like a middle schooler than anything else. But this girl looked so familiar to Okazaki.

Then a name rang in his head.

Fuko.

The name rang over and over. His head started to split. Horrible spasms of pain. His eyes, ears, nose, and mouth all started to bleed. He started vomiting, as well.

But during this, something else was also happening.

Memories flooded into his mind.

Memories of a happy time. A great time where all were happy. Of a mysterious girl that no one knew anything about. A mysterious girl who turned out to be something more than just human. It was this girl. The girl that was yelling for Otonashi to stop the Meteorite Strike.

Fuko.

Fuko. Ibuki.

Just as the girl looks over to him and smiles, Okazaki loses consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4: Sorrowful Past

**Hello again readers. This chapter will explain Okazaki's past. Most fans of Clannad will already know most of this, but there are some important things that happen in this chapter and I encourage you to read. This chapter in particular was very difficult for me to write. Constant revisions and edits trying to capture the emotions of three major events from Clannad that are described here. Even more difficult trying to make my original characters react to these events. So please enjoy the fruit of my labor and leave a review while your at it! I want to make this series as great as possible. **

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

"Fuko!" Okazaki screamed as he say up, quickly, as if waking from a nightmare. He looked around wondering where he was.

He was in the infirmary that he had first woken up in after his first encounter with Otonashi. But, this time, the beds were all filled with other people yet to awaken from their slumber after being "killed" by Otonashi.

"I see that you're awake now."

He turned to where the voice was coming from and saw Ellie walking towards him. She looked really pissed.

"You will tell me exactly what the hell happened two nights ago," she ordered. "Gale believes that we will lose all but a couple of what few members we have left from this incident, and if the last time this happened is any indicator, then I believe him. We need to know."

"Did you say two nights?" he asked her. "I was out cold for two whole nights?"

"No surprise," she replied, crossing her arms, obviously agitated. "Angel used his Meteorite Strike. That is the most powerful attack we have encountered."

"Well, what exactly is Meteorite Strike?" He couldn't imagine one single person having such incredible power all to himself. "Is it a missile or something like that?"

"We don't have the slightest clue," she replied. "It completely wipes us out before we can do anything against it, let alone gather information on it." She walked up to the side of his bed and rested her arms on the mattress. "Now, enough with the questions. We need to know what you did, and now. Tell me everything."

Okazaki relaxed and laid back on his bed. He sighed and remained silent for a few moments.

"Fuko," he said.

"Fuko?' she couldn't have hidden her surprise. She obviously wasn't expecting someone's name to come up in this conversation. She wanted answers, not people. "So what, were you guys fighting over a girl or something?

Okazaki chuckled. "Fuko was the one who stopped Otonashi from setting off another Meteorite Strike. I saw her scream for him to stop and just before I passed out, she turned to me and smiled. Such a warm, familiar smile." He started to cry. Not sobbing, but full on crying.

The fact that this girl had stopped Angel had startled Ellie, but what surprised her the most was Okazaki crying. To see a grown man crying so hard all of a sudden isn't something you see everyday. She looked around, hoping no one was awake to hear or see this, and turned back to Okazaki, patting his back to try and calm him down. "It's okay now, calm down." She continued to comfort him until his sobbing had stopped.

"Are you calmed down now?" she asked him.

Okazaki nodded.

"Okay, please tell me what happened."

"Yes, but could you please let me tell you about my life first?"

She nodded, with a comforting, motherly look on her face. A look with which Okazaki was unfamiliar.

So he told her.

He told her of his father who treated him more as a stranger than a son. The fight where he injured his shoulder and couldn't continue his only passion and dream of playing basketball. How he spent his entirety of high school in a meaningless loop of existence.

He told her of Nagisa. How he had met her. How she was standing at the bottom of a hill, too afraid to climb it. How she said that she loved the school but everything had changed. How he had helped her get the drama club back up. His love confession to her after the cultural festival. He thought his life was finally turning around for the better. He married Nagisa a year and a half after he graduated. They were even going to have a child.

But Nagisa had never been in great health. While giving birth to their daughter, the strain was too much for her body without a doctor there to support her with medical treatment. The doctor had no way to get to their house, nor them to a hospital, as a snowstorm had completely covered the streets. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Nagisa, on the other hand, didn't make it. She died moments after seen her new baby's face.

He told her of how he had regressed back into his original, meaningless loop of depressed life he had called existence. For five years he went to work, headed to the bar and got wasted, went home and slept. The same miserable and pitiful routine, every day, for five whole years. To his daughter, he never acted as a father. He rarely even saw her. She lived with her grandparents. Nagisa's parents. He treated his daughter worse than his father had treated him years earlier.

Then one day, Sanae and Akio, his mother-in-law and father-in-law, invited him to a vacation and his work told him to go, too. He arrived at their house only to find it empty with a note saying that they wouldn't be able to make it and he should just go without them. He decided to just go home, but when he turned around he saw his daughter, Ushio, standing there. He knew that he could not leave her alone, so he decided to stay for the night and watch her.

But they didn't return the next day. Ushio kept asking him if "Grandma and Grandpa were coming back to take them on a trip." He felt sorry for her and after seeing a father take his children to the pool, he decided to take her on the trip without her grandparents.

Throughout the entire trip, no matter what had happened she never cried. But she had to use the restroom often. When Okazaki asked her why, she replied "Because Grandma told me that the only place I'm aloud to cry is the bathroom."

Okazaki felt almost nothing at such a depressing statement from such a young child.

They stayed at a hotel located in a small rural area famous for its sunflower fields. Ushio loved it. She ran around, having so much fun playing with the new toy that Okazaki had bought for her at the train station on the way here. It was a toy robot. Okazaki didn't really put any thought into it, as it was definitely not a toy that you would expect a young girl to have, but she loved it. He couldn't figure out why.

Later, though, she had accidentally lost the toy in the sunflower fields. Okazaki told her that he would get her another one but she refused. He sighed and said how she was stubborn just like her mother, which caused painful memories to return so to get them out of his mind, he continued looking for the toy.

He sat down under the shade of a tree after a while for a break, when he felt an old memory return. He could not place it. It flashed through his head and he told his daughter he would return in little bit. He followed the path that he felt he remembered and met someone.

It was his grandmother.

She told him that those memories were of him and his father coming to visit her after Okazaki's mom had died. He had come here to pledge his life to raising his child, no matter what the cost.

She told him how his father wasn't the greatest person as a man, but as a father, he hadn't done that bad a job.

Okazaki couldn't deny it.

His memories returned of when he was a child. His father was always working, just trying to keep their house and food on the table. And whenever he had any spare money he would always use it to buy his son some candy or a toy. Whatever he could afford. He never spent it on himself.

But eventually, the stress from abusive bosses, raising a child alone, and never having enough money to support his family got to him. He started looking for something, anything, that could relieve his pain. The things he found were alcohol and gambling. Their lives went downhill from there, but his father still tried his best. He gave it his all.

Okazaki had to agree that his father was a much better one than what he had always believed. And he was a much better father than Okazaki was to Ushio.

With these thoughts still fresh in his mind, he returned to his daughter.

She was still looking for the toy.

He went down into the fields and continued to search for it with her. After an hour he told her that they needed to go and that he promised to get her a new one.

But she insisted that, that was the one she wanted. No other ones.

Okazaki asked her why and this is what she said.

"Because," she said, "that was the first present you ever gave me. Daddy."

That was the very first time his daughter had ever called him "daddy." Okazaki broke down on the spot. He told Ushio how sorry he was for leaving her alone for the past five years and that from now on he would be a great daddy to her.

She ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. She was bawling her eyes out, crying non-stop the whole time.

"It's okay, Ushio." he told her while hugging her. "You don't have to cry anymore."

"B-but…" she stammered through the tears falling down her face, "Grandma told me th-that the only place I'm aloud to cry is in the bathroom." She continued to cry even harder. "And in Daddy's arms."

Upon hearing this, Okazaki started to cry along with his daughter, holding her tighter and tighter than ever before. He sat there, along with his daughter, crying out all the pent up tears and sorrows that had built up over the past five years. Father and daughter together, let their emotions spill out to each other.

They returned home to find Sanae and Akio waiting for them.

"Thank you," he told them. "Thank you so much."

They only smiled and nodded. All this was obviously their plan from the very start.

For the next few months, Okazaki finally acted as a father. He loved his daughter with everything he had. He even did menial little things like take her to school in the mornings.

There was a girl that would come over to play with Ushio. She was the same age as Okazaki, but had more of a high school girl's mentality as she was in a coma since her freshman year. This girl was the sister of Nagisa's old art teacher in her Freshman year.

This girl's name was Fuko.

Fuko Ibuki.

Fuko would come to play with Ushio, and Okazaki became the father he should have always been to his daughter.

Everything was perfect.

But fate had a horrible tract record with Okazaki.

Ushio inherited her mother's illness and became sick. For the longest time, she remained bedridden. She must have known that her time was up, even at such a young age, that each and every day, she would beg her father to go on a trip to the Sunflower Fields. She wanted to see her favorite place once more before she died.

She never said that she knew she was going to die, but now, it was obvious.

Okazaki tried to carry her to the train station in the middle of winter. He just couldn't say now, for deep down in his heart he knew, that even if he had made her stay home, it would have ended the same way. His mind denied the truth. Only now did he realize what his heart had already known. His heart governed his judgment that day.

She died in his arms in the middle of a winter filled street.

After that, he again regressed into his meaningless, depressed lifestyle. He started drinking and gambling again.

One night, he was completely drunk and on his way home, he crossed the street. And was hit head on by a speeding truck.

That is how Okazaki ended up in this world. The memories of Fuko and the memories of his death had returned to him.

Ellie was silent. She had heard many tragic stories of people's lives. The reasons that they had ended up in this world for those who could not accept their lives. She started to cry. Tears streamed from her eyes to her chin. She wiped them away with her sleeve. Of all the stories of people's horrible lives, this man's was the most heart wrenching she had ever heard.

She bent forward and hugged Okazaki. A big, great hug meant to comfort the shattered heart of a poor, lost soul.

"I'm so sorry," she told him. It came out as a stammer as she was crying. Okazaki started to cry along with her, pitying himself over his own life.

"I'm so sorry for the way we treated you," she said. "I knew you must have had something, but what you just told me was… something I could never imagine."

Okazaki smiled in gratitude. "It doesn't matter. You cant be blamed for you knew nothing."

Suddenly, though, realization hit Ellie like a hammer. "Fuko?" she quickly asked. "Didn't you say the name of the person who stopped Angel was named Fuko?"

"I did." he replied. "It was her. No mistaking that face or that smile."

Ellie felt even worse that he had to learn that someone he was close to when he was alive had turned out to be an enemy.

"But there is more to her than I have told you so far."

She looked up at his face, which was deathly serious at the time.

"I knew her before all that," he said. "Nagisa and I helped her get her sister married to her fiancee."

"What?"

Okazaki then delved into another story.

He told her that while trying to start up the drama club back in high school, he was looking for possible members to join. He went into one of the rooms and found a strange girl carving a star out of wood. Her hand was injured because the knife she was using was broken.

He tried to talk to her but the moment he spoke up, she ran away and hid in the corner from him, obviously suspicious.

He was eventually able to get the broken knife away from her.

She was a very strange girl that would do all kinds of weird things. Like pretending to play basketball just as buildup for a high-five. She would do all kinds of these weird things.

He and Nagisa eventually started spending time with her. They helped her carve her stars, which are actually starfish. She was making them in place of invitations to her sister's wedding. She wanted the entire school to celebrate the happiest day of her sister's life.

Then one day, they found out that she had no home. She said she couldn't go home. So she started staying with Nagisa and her family.

There were also rumors going around the school, at the time, that the ghost of a girl who was killed in a car accident was wandering through the school, handing people things. Nagisa started to suspect that the ghost girl was actually Fuko.

Okazaki and Nagisa befriended Kouko Ibuki, Fuko's sister, and learned that her sister was in the hospital in a coma from a car accident. They couldn't believe it. So they made a plan to reunite Fuko and Kouko at the school's Founder's Festival.

On the day of the festival, they had the two of them meet.

Kouko couldn't see her. Fuko stood in between Nagisa and Okizaki but her sister only saw the two of them. She did not see Fuko.

If was all the proof they needed. Fuko was actually the soul of the girl in a coma. The affections of Fuko separated her soul from her body while she was in a coma so she could continue to help with her sister's wedding.

But they found out that Kouko was going to cancel the wedding, for she believed that why should she have happiness when her sister was in a coma, unable to achieve happiness of her own. When the reason her sister was unhappy, was her fault. At least, that is what she believed.

They were able to convince her otherwise and the wedding was planned to happen at the school that she loved so dearly.

Fuko, Nagisa, Okazaki, even Sunohara, and Nagisa's parents, worked around the clock making more and more starfish to invite more students to the wedding.

But one day, they learned from Kouko that Fuko's condition was worsening. They soon noticed that students were beginning to ignore Fuko as if she didn't exist. Others that had been given starfish and those who remembered being with her on multiple occasions started forgetting her. Even Sunohara. The people closest to her were still able to remember her and see her, but slowly more and more of them started to forget. Many still had faint memories of the happiness they all had with her and their hearts were torn apart. Okazaki and Nagisa were panicked. Everyone was forgetting Fuko. And if everyone else were forgetting her.

Then, eventually, so would they.

Then, everyone forgot her.

But, on the day before the wedding, while talking with one of their teachers, asking what a marriage sign was doing at the school, the teacher reminded them of her. Of Fuko.

The next day was the wedding. Okazaki and Nagisa were still the only ones who remembered and could still see Fuko. No one else even remembered the wedding.

Then, upon leaving the ceremony, outside the school was flooded with hundreds of students cheering on the newly married couple. They all remembered the wedding. No one remembered Fuko, but they all at least remembered the wedding.

Fuko started to tell them of how happy she was. How happy she was to be able to spend time with friends that she had never had. She knew happiness that she had never known before, because of them.

Okazaki and Nagisa both started to cry. Happy for Kouko and happy for Fuko. When Kouko came up to him and asked why he was crying, he told Kouko of a girl. A girl who worked so hard for this day. Lived, only for this day. A girl who wanted nothing more than for this day to happen. He told her this story with tears streaming from his eyes.

And that was when it happened.

Fuko became visible. Visible to everyone, including her sister.

She thanked her sister. She told her that she would always be happy if her sister was. She came up to her, a beautiful, white glow emanating from her being. A girl pure of heart and soul. She gave her sister a hug and thanked her for finding her own happiness and not holding herself back for her sake.

Then. She faded from existence. Fuko was lost from everyone's memories. Forever.

Okazaki's face was solemn and saddened while Ellie's was wide with astonishment. The story she had just heard was even more absurd then the one they were living now. At least, since their lives now had become the norm, that is how it seemed.

"And now that you know my life," said Okazaki, "I shall tell you what happened with Otonashi."

He told her all about how he knew so much of the First Generation. Everything that Otonashi had said, Okazaki told her faultlessly. He described the entire event in perfect detail. He omitted nothing. He even included his thought that maybe, just maybe, Otonashi was the one remaining member of the First Generation.

At first Ellie thought he was mad, but the more that she thought about it, the more that it made perfect sense to her.

She told Okazaki to get some rest and left the infirmary.

She stood outside the door and said in a whisper, "Did you all have fun eavesdropping?"

Sitting next to the wall, completely depressed, were the members of the Battlefront that Okazaki had already known. They sat there with such solemn faces, obvious of how sorry they felt of Okazaki. They hated their behavior to him before. They could tell that he honestly meant everything that they had heard. And they had heard it all. Even the angry Cory and violent Tsubaki had tear streaks on their faces.

"Do you feel that we can trust him now?" she asked them all.

They all simultaneously replied, "Yes." Their hearts were melted at Okazaki's story, yet they did not pity him for he was a very strong person for being able to live through such agony.

From now on, they would greatly respect him. He was now one of their beloved allies.

And starting tomorrow, they would have a new mission.


	5. Chapter 5: Reunion and a Warning

**Isn't it ironic? It's my shortest chapter, next to the intro, yet it took me the most time and effort to write. I don't even know why. Writer's block is a pain, ain't it? Haha. Well, please enjoy and leave some reviews.**

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

A week had gone by since the Second Meteorite Disaster.

Over ninety-five percent of Battlefront members turned in their resignations and started living as model students due to the incident. They lost all hope after witnessing the unimaginable power that Angel exerted that horrible night.

There were even still people that were unconscious.

Ellie sent Cory out on a reconnaissance mission. Surprisingly, that was his specialty. He returned the next day saying that most of the Angel Guard has resigned as well, due to fear of their own leader. Apparently, they were never informed that Otonashi had such power, and they were afraid that they would get caught up in another explosion like it.

Throughout these events, Okazaki could only think of Fuko.

_What is she doing here? _he thought to himself. _This is the Afterlife. Does that mean she died soon after I did. _He just couldn't find out the reason for this. _Then again, I hadn't seen her for a while after Ushio died. Maybe something happened in between. It seemed like she'd been here for a while._

There was a knock on the door and Okazaki quickly say up in surprise. "Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me, Ellie."

"Come in."

She slowly opened the door and peered around outside before shutting it. She stood in front of the door, waiting for something.

"Well?" he asked her.

She sighed and replied, "I've come to tell you all we know about this world."

He was surprised. Not in a bad way, but surprised. It was quite sudden. Then again, he was promised answers long ago, but with everything that happened, it was understandable that he wasn't quite able to get them right away.

So she explained everything. How this world was a purgatory for the young who could not accept the hell of their lives. Or who could not accept the unfairness thrust upon them. Why should they suffer so when they had done nothing wrong? Why must they be punished for wrongs they never committed?

Everyone here had some sort of suffering in their pasts.

But there were also many things that they didn't understand about this world. Nor understood about the true purpose of the Battlefront, for they have been unable to find hardly any records of it. Just a few journals from random low ranked members.

Actually, they are only assuming that Otonashi is the Second Angel. Based on descriptions in the journals they have been able to find, the Original Angel was a short, slender girl with long, flowing, pure silver hair. She looked like a doll, completely pure. So they figured it was safe to assume that this was a different Angel.

Even the defeat of the Original Angel is an assumption. They have no proof, but they can't think of another reason that she would have been replaced. So, they have no choice to make these assumptions. They do, however, change them based on new information they receive from time to time.

"The current purpose of the Battlefront," she said to him, "is to destroy Angel and force God to come here himself so we can give him a good thrashing."

Okazaki was a bit stunned from that last sentence. A "good thrashing?" Everything that had happened was specifically to give God a "good thrashing?"

"We did all that," he said. "Went through all that. Just to, hopefully, give God a 'good thrashing.' The fuck is that?" He was starting to lose it a little. He didn't like going through all that shit just to give God a "good thrashing" as she put it. He wanted peace not revenge. It isn't like he was the only one with such a horrible life under his belt.

"I know it sounds stupid," she replied, slightly aggravated, "but think about. God gave us these unfair lives. We never did anything wrong, so why should we have to suffer?" She had obviously given this a lot of thought. "That is the same reasoning the original Battlefront had, so why decided to continue their legacy. We fight in hopes that we can make God feel even the slightest bit of the pain we felt."

"I understand," he retorted, "but I still think it's crazy."

"It _is _crazy," she said back, "and that is why we like it."

Okazaki chuckled. He couldn't hide his amusement. "I swear, if Kyou was here, she'd hop on this bandwagon just for the fun of it."

"I dunno who that is, but we already have a few people like that." she said while smiling back.

"Cory?"

"Lucky guess."

He laughed and got out of bed. "Yeah, whatever you say." He patted down his clothes and stretched. "I got some business to take care of, and I'm assuming you already sent everyone else on a new mission, so I'll stay outta your hair."

"Where the hell are you going?" she asked him. She didn't want him going off on his own just yet. Especially not with precious Battlefront information. She was afraid that Angel would attack him and force him to tell their information. Even if it was just a bunch of assumptions.

"Going to see Otonashi."

It felt like she had just been kicked in the balls. Well, what she assumes if feels like to get kicked in the balls. She could not believe her ears. He has just said the one thing that he shouldn't have. The exact opposite of what she was just thinking. Angel wouldn't have to do it, he'd do it for him. That was the one thing that Battlefront members were prohibited to do. Have contact with Angel on purpose outside of a mission.

"You can't do…" she started to say but was cut off by Okazaki.

"I'm going specifically to talk to Fuko. If Otonashi is there, then it will be pure coincidence."

She couldn't say no to him. After hearing his story the other day, there was just no way she could force him to stay here and not see her. No way that she could stop him from seeing the only person he had any connection to in the real world.

"I just don't understand," he told her, sorrow plainly visible across his face. "She finally came out of her coma after five years. Then to just shortly after. That is even more cruel than what happened to me."

She couldn't comfort him. The only amenity that she could give him was to give him permission to see Angel and Fuko.

She was like a doting mother that couldn't say no even if she wanted to. "Fine," she said, "but be careful. I don't want to find your corpse up a tree later on tonight."

He laughed lightly, thankful for her permission. "Don't worry. Fuko isn't like that."

"Oh yeah," she quickly said before he left the room, "don't anticipate. There is a chance that she had changed. Maybe not to a malicious state, but personality wise. If some form of stressor or responsibility were given to her, she may have changed from that strange, happy-go-lucky state that you remember."

"Don't worry," he replied, certain that she would still be the same. "I'm sure she is the same, immature little ghost-girl I remember."

_Oh, Okazaki,_ she thought to herself. _The immature, happy-go-lucky ones are the people who are most likely to change. They wouldn't survive well like that if she really is apart of the remnants of the Angel Guard. _She watched silently as he left, concerned, but keeping them to herself. She felt that hard lessons were the ones best learned. Though, that still did not relieve the pain she felt in her heart. Though her own life was terrible, yes, but his life was something she just couldn't imagine. She couldn't imagine the pain of being a father who lost both his wife and daughter, who met a girl who was separate from her body, who had a childhood friend who's famous scientist parents died in a plane accident years ago, who had a father who treated him like a stranger. Even her own father, who treated her like a toy, at least paid her attention. She just couldn't imagine how if felt. He had a life where he was given things and then had them brutally taken away by force. He knew what it was like to have something and lose it. It was a totally different pain from her own.

Okazaki sprinted from the room, and flew down the hallways of the school. She wanted to know why Fuko was there. If she really did die, then he would wholeheartedly join the Battlefront. He would fight just for the chance to give God a good "thrashing."

He searched for a good hour, but couldn't find Otonashi. He was nowhere to be found.

"Damnit!" he yelled in frustration, his face blood red, "Where the hell are you Otonashi?"

"In here," yelled a voice in the classroom next to him, "and stop yelling. We are in a school after all."

Okazaki just stopped. He wasn't actually yelling for Otonashi, just venting his frustration. He turned around and saw him sitting in a chair of the classroom, feet on the table.

"What?" he was just a bit stunned. To search non-stop for an hour and then suddenly find him like this. He was a little surprised. "Why are you here if all places?"

"Well," he stated, sarcastically, "I _am_ the Student Council President and this _is _the Student Council room. So I find it quite logical that I would be here."

He looked up at the sign above the door to the room which read, "Student Council." He felt like a major idiot from that. He opened the door, walked in, and took a seat directly across from Otonashi. "I need to talk to one of your, um, subordinates, I guess you'd call her."

"No."

Plain as that. No reason, excuse, nothing. Just a flat out order.

"And who are you to decide that?" He didn't want to fight, but if it was to find out what happened to Fuko, he'd risk it. Even if it meant another… he shudders at the thought. Another Meteorite Strike. He was willing to risk it all. Not that he had a lot.

"I am fairly certain that I could easily overpower you and keep you from seeing her." He wasn't messing around.

"So you even know who I'm talking about?" Okazaki wasn't going to give in. No matter how strong his adversary was.

"Fuko," Otonashi stated. "Fuko Ibuki. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're right."

"Good," he replied. He seemed happy to know he was right. "Now get out. You aren't going to see her."

Okazaki started to pull out his handgun when someone spoke. It was such a familiar voice. A heartwarming voice. I voice that brought back bittersweet emotions. The voice of the strange little ghost girl from his past. The voice of Fuko.

"Yuzuru, it's okay."

Okazaki couldn't believe his eyes no matter how much he sees her. He just stares at her, relieved to know that it wasn't just his imagination. That it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him. But at the same time he had the feeling of sorrow. That after coming back from her coma, she had died again.

"Fuko." Tears started to well up in Okazaki's eyes. He slowly staggered over to her. "It really is you, isn't it?"

"Oh, Okazaki!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face, embracing him like a small child who hasn't seen her mother in a long time. "I can't believe you died. What happened after my sister's wedding?" She was saying everything through sobs and tears.

"What?"

"Time has no relevancy here," he heard from Otonashi, who had stood up, clearly unpleased but couldn't help feeling a little happy for the both of them. "Just because one person dies first, does not mean that their soul arrives here before another's."

"Huh?" Okazaki still didn't understand.

"Say Person A were to die two years before Person B. But Person A arrives to find Person B has already been here for a long time, despite dying first."

That explains it. But there was still something else that was bugging him

"But she was in a coma," he said, "not dead. Right?"

"It is very close," Fuko explained to him. "Right now, my soul is barely connected to my body back home, and the reason it was able to come here is because my body is not dead, so I do still have to connection to our world."

_S… Sophisticated! _Okazaki was absolutely stunned. She was talking, well in comparison to her old self, in a very sophisticated manner. He was a little startled.

"Wh… What is this?" he asked her.

"Huh?" she looked up at him with a quizzical look strewn across her face, wondering what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"Well… uh… It's just that…" He couldn't find a way to explain it. He didn't want to hurt her feelings so soon after this heartfelt reunion. He pondered for a moment, trying to figure out a way to say it nicely.

"He's trying to say he is surprised that you aren't acting like a stupid, immature child anymore, like you were when you first arrived here."

Okazaki froze. Otonashi just perfectly stated what he was thinking that is surprised him enough that he lost his chance to lie and get out of that awkward conversation. He just looks at Otonashi with a look that said, _You asshole!_

He laughed at his face. "It's what you get."

Okazaki was just about to yell at him when he heard Fuko say, "It's okay. I know that I used to be so immature. I have been here for a long time, so I have been trying to change myself for the better. Starting with my immaturity. I didn't really have much of a choice on the matter."

He wondered what had happened to her that would make her need to change her own personality. While he knew that she was trying to better herself, he kind of missed that immature yet cute Fuko he always knew. He had to admit that he was a bit disappointed. He also remembered what Ellie had told him about how it wasn't uncommon for people to change when they come here.

"Okay," Otonashi said, standing up while clapping his hands to get their attention. "Are you guys gonna hug each other all day? I don't want any accidents here you know. She's too young."

"Eh?" they both said at the same time. They looked at each other, and saw that they were still in a very "emotional" embrace. They screamed and let go of each other, falling back into seats that Otonashi skillfully placed behind the both of them.

"Well then," he continued, "we don't have much time." He was definitely being impatient. "So say what you want, and get out."

Okazaki wanted to send a snide remark back at him but decided against it. He figured that he would have another chance to talk with her, so he decided to tell him what happened to his sister and himself.

"Oh, Okazaki," she was crying again. "I'm so happy for my sister, but with what happened to you and Nagisa." She had a very similar look to Ellie just stronger due to the fact that she personally knew the both of them. "I'm so sorry," she said crying. Tear drops fell from her face into her lap, making her skirt a shade darker than it was supposed to be.

"It's okay," he replied, patting her head. "It's okay. It isn't your fault. You actually made it so much better."

Otonashi let the two of them have their emotional moment, but then he ordered Okazaki to leave. He followed him out and door, shut it, and whispered to Okazaki, "Listen. You need to be careful. I'll admit that I blew my fuse the other night, and I was at fault. But I need to tell you, there are some strange things going on right now. I don't know what but there have been some strange occurrences happening with the NPCs. Just watch yourself alright?"

"Why are you warning me, of all people?" he asked. "I'm the enemy aren't I?"

Otonashi sighed and shook his head, replying, "There is much you need to learn about this world. I am not your, nor the Battlefront's, enemy. I am probably your greatest ally."

Otonashi returned to the classroom leaving Okazaki, shocked, to stand there and ponder what he had meant.

"So," he asked to himself, "what am I supposed to be careful of?"


	6. Chapter 6: Devastating Misunderstanding

**Hey everyone. I'm sorry for the long delay between chapters five and six. I do many other things besides writing fanfiction. I AMV edit, play video games, draw, have farm work, and a bunch of other stuff, not to mention school work. A lot of things happened recently and this fanfiction just slipped my mind. Please forgive me, and here is the latest chapter. Expect some juicy drama and a major twist. And Chapter seven should be out soon. **

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

Ellie was still in Okazaki's room, waiting for him to return. She was dog tired and it was taking all of her willpower just to keep herself from falling into the depths of her dreams.

Just as she was about to drift off, the door burst open with a loud smash. She jumped up, wide awake from drifting off between the waking world and dreamland, shouting "I'm awake! I'm awake, I wasn't sleeping!"

She looked over at the doorway and saw Okazaki standing there with shock over his face from her outburst.

"Well?" she asked while patting herself down trying to regain her composure. "How'd it go?"

"Well enough," he replied, his face returning to his usual expression. "Otonashi tried to stop me from seeing Fuko for some reason, but she showed up and told him to let me talk to her. I also found out some very interesting things from our friendly neighborhood Angel."

Ellie raised her eyes. This had piqued her interest. "Interesting things?"

"Yeah," he replied, sitting on his bed and laying back, tired. "Turns out, the Fuko that is here now, is actually the Fuko from right after Kouko's wedding, when she faded away from existence. She is actually still in a coma."

"What?" Ellie was genuinely surprised. She had thought she had already heard everything, but no. "How is that possible?"

"Apparently," he said sitting back up and resting his arms on his legs, "time has no relevancy in this world."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Basically, just because someone dies in our world first, does not mean that they arrive here first."

This was news to her. No one had really mentioned when they had died. They all just assumed everyone who was there first, died first.

But, then another thought hit her.

"Isn't Fuko in a coma? Why would she be here?"

"A coma is like a half-dead state. While the mind and body are still functional, the soul has left the body. The soul cannot stay in our world so it begins it's journey to the next. However, because the body is still functional, the soul retains a connection to the body. Thus, it cannot reach its destination, so it gets stuck in the middle. In other words, it gets stuck here." It seemed as if Okazaki knew all about it. Like it had been his major in college or something. "Well, that's my theory anyway. It's the only explanation I can come up with."

Ellie sighed, standing up quickly she asked, "So, basically, we know nothing?"

Okazaki nodded. "Pretty much. As usual, everything is speculation and guessing. Not like we have much of a choice. It isn't like there is a 'Afterlife for Dummies book we can pick up at the local library."

Crestfallen, Ellie replied, "If only there was. It would make everything so much easier."

Okazaki sat up, a trickster's smile across his face. "You wanna know something else? I found it a little, how do you say, interesting."

Ellie's expression didn't change nor did she move, but her eyes turned to Okazaki, who was now sitting up on his bed. "What do you mean?"

Okazaki laughed a little. "It's a little something Otonashi told me just before I left. He said that he is actually our greatest ally rather than our biggest enemy. You're probably going to hate me for this, but I believe him. I don't know why, but I do."

Ellie was overtop of him almost instantly. She really had no shame. She did embarrassing things like that without a second though, without realizing that is was embarrassing herself. "Why would you believe such crap straight from the mouth of the man himself?" she yelled at him, less than an inch from his face.

"Because right from the beginning I always thought something was wrong. More wrong than this world itself. Even though he shot me, when I calmed down I realized that there was no ill intent in him at all when he did it. That is was more like a lesson he was trying to teach me." Okazaki remained calm, telling this to Ellie right to her face. Completely denying everything she had always believed in. "I get the feeling that he is truly trying to help the people that come here. But. BUT. I also understand where you are coming from. That is why I stay with you guys."

They stared into each other's eyes for minutes. Ellie trying to understand why he would think that way, and Okazaki trying to understand why she has so much trouble accepting the idea.

"Fine," Ellie remarked, unmoving from overtop of him. Okazaki felt a bit of déjà vu. "I can't really accept it, but I won't persecute you for those ideals. At least not yet."

Still not moving, "So what are you going to do?"

"We're going to get some answers out of Angel."

Okazaki raised an eyebrow. "You sure that is a good idea? I mean, he might just kill our asses again."

"Meh. Wouldn't hurt to try."

They both got a creepy, mischievous smile on their faces. At the worst possible time, their faces got even closer. Almost like they were about to kiss. Not for any inappropriate reasons, just because they weren't paying attention.

The reason it was the worst possible time is this.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Carter, Tsubaki, Cory, and Gale all burst into his room. Carter yelled, "Hey! Okazaki! Guess what, Angel has….!"

He stopped completely mid sentence. His face didn't change expressions. He just stood there, frozen in place. The same with the others. None of them moved a muscle. Which was perfectly understandable to Okazaki and Ellie. Okazaki knew right away, and Ellie just realized the "position" they were in. From any angle, it definitely looked like they were about to get it on.

Both parties just stared at each other for a few seconds that felt like hours.

Ellie broke the silence. "Um, we…"

But she could not finish. "Sorry to interrupt!" Gale and Cory yelled and ran out of the room. Tsubaki pulled out her characteristic knife saying "You perverted little motherfucker. I'm gonna castrate you so slowly!"

Before she could do anything, though, Gale reached in and grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her down the hallway, kicking and screaming.

"What'd you do that for?" Tsubaki screamed at Gale.

"We have a bigger problem," replied, his face stone cold serious.

"What?"

"If you hadn't noticed, Carter… He… He really loves Ellie. Now think. How do you think this will turn out?"

Tsubaki realized then where the problem was. This "incident" had the power to completely tear apart the Battlefront. Like something off a daytime TV drama. But way too real.

"You know how Ellie gets," said Cole. "Sometimes she does some really inappropriate things without even realizing she is doing anything. Nothing too bad, but just bad enough that it can be easily mistaken. I don't really think that he would actually do what it seems they were doing. Ellie either. She's just a bit… eccentric. But Carter, you know what happened to him. You know how he will react. This is going to be a disaster."

All three of them slowly turn towards the doorway. Anticipation of the worst kind welling inside them. Knowing what is going to happen next. But not knowing what will happen because of it. They were scared.

Carter just stood there. His head was lowered, staring blankly at the ground. His unmoving body made him look more like a statue than a man.

"Carter," Ellie said in a commanding, yet obviously nervous manner. "Listen to me. This is a misunderstanding. I just got a little worked up because of something he said. So we weren't doing anything. I swear, we weren't."

_Hey now, _Okazaki said in his mind, wanting Ellie to hear him. _That is _not _the way to put it. You make it sound like I tricked you into sleeping with me!_

"Listen to me Carter," Okazaki said. "I was just telling Ellie about…"

"Just shut the fuck up!" He screamed, still staring at the ground. "If it was a misunderstanding, why are you two still glued so close together, huh? You seem like you two were having such a good time until we had shown up."

"Hey that's…" Ellie couldn't finish.

"Oh really?" He yelled. His face was blood red with anger. A mad smile strewn across, angry and mad laughter plaguing throat. His teeth clenched so hard, it was as if they would crush themselves. "Then why don't you get the fuck off of him?"

Ellie and Okazaki quickly separated. Their clothes ruffled and eyes wide, nervous of what might happen next. "I swear we weren't doing anything," Okazaki told him. "I'm you friend, I wouldn't do anything like that!" He pleaded with Carter, trying his hardest to convince him of the truth, but it was to no avail.

"You're my friend, so you wouldn't do something like that?" he asked, his voice obviously sarcastic, the anger blowing out in waves that Okazaki could swear he could feel them rush over his body. "What bullshit!" he screamed with the anger of a God. My _friend _said the same thing when he killed my mother, my _friend _said the same thing when he raped my girlfriend, my_ friend _said the same thing when he took everything from me. And then," he started laughing again, slightly maniacally, but a quiet and calm laugh at the same time, "And then he killed me. So you think that will pass off as an excuse to me? Do you? I saw it with my own eyes! Ellie, your clothes were a mess and Okazaki, your body was covered in sweat! What do you expect me to believe?"

"Man, no, I was sweaty because of an encounter with Otonashi," Okazaki tried to convince him, working his hardest to find a way that will convince Carter that nothing had happened, which was the truth. "I learned a lot that really left me shocked and my body was sweating from the stress. I swear to God."

"And my clothes were a mess because I was laying down, half-asleep, waiting for him to come back and tell me what had happened between him and Angel." Ellie was obviously trying just as hard to convince Carter and he was. It was obvious that she loved Carter just as much as Carter loved her. It was a mutual love that someone had rarely ever seen. One similar to that of Okazaki and Nagisa.

But Carter's blood-stained past left him with terrible trust issues. It was completely understandable, but because of it, they were unable to convince Carter of the truth and he went on believing what he felt was the truth, however near sighted it may be.

"Both of you, just shut up." Carter's voice this time was different. Now, his anger had vanished, his mind had calmed, but his malice radiated from his body like a heater turned on high. There was nothing they could do to change his mind or his heart. His past left an irreparable scar on him. It twisted his mind, his heart, and his soul to the brink. This unfortunate incident had finally sent him over the edge. He was a lost cause.

"You are going to regret this Okazaki." His voice was commanding and domineering. He was done. "Just you wait, you both are going to regret all of this. I finally thought that I found people I could trust, but I was wrong. In this world, there is no one that can be trusted. They will all stab you in the back if they can, take from you if they can, kill you if they can, anything if they can. They will act like your good friends until the time comes when they think you aren't looking, and they screw you over! I was a fool to think there were people I could trust." He turned and walked away.

Okazaki and Ellie were stunned. They could not believe what had just happened. Ellie looked as if she was about to cry. She loved Carter, and everyone knew it. Carter loved her and everyone knew it. But Carter had problems. And everyone knew that. They had all played it careful because they didn't want anything to ruin it for them. They all had fun and all loved each other like a family, but, no one cared to inform the newcomer of this. Of Carter's problems. Ellie was partly to blame in the first place for initiating the situation, but if Okazaki had known, he could have reacted in a better way to Ellie's eccentric tendencies.

Tears finally began to well in Ellie's eyes. They flowed like a river, coming out and never ending, falling their way to her shirt. The stream never stopped, as if an endless river poured it's way out of her eyes. She collapsed to the ground as the sorrow overcame her. She sputtered and shook as the sadness came in waves.

Okazaki crouched down and began to comfort her. He gave her a gentle hug, similar to the ones that Sanae had given him after Nagisa's death. He knew sorrow and sadness well. He knew how she felt. While Ellie had not lost him in death, she had lost him in life. While it isn't the same, it is still loss, so it is still alike.

"Ellie."

"I'm sorry," she said between sobs, the tears kept coming and so did the fits. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think about anything wrong when I jumped you like that. I just do things like that and don't realize it. Why? Why won't Carter believe us?" She had started to calm, but the tears returned. She cried as hard as she was before.

"Ellie, I know how you feel." He comforted her in the only way he felt he could. "I know what it is like to lose those you love. But, for me, I had the chance to return to how I was, but I blew it. I have lost all that I love forever. But you. You, have the chance to get it back. You have the chance to get back what you have lost. Right now he is a lost lamb, but you must shepherd him back. Even if that means turning your back on the Battlefront, and. And turning to God for help."

She looked up at him, shock sprawled across her face at what he had just said. Her entire life had been hell, and she spent her life in this world in a desperate war against God. How could she concede to him and ask him for help?

"How could you say that?"

Okazaki sighed. He understood how she felt, and he barely understood himself either. "As much as I hate the life He had given me. How He had given me such happiness through the hell, and just took it away from me in a flash. How much I hate Him for that, He saved my love once before. When she was a child, she nearly died from her illness. But, my step-father took her weakened body, rushed deep into the woods to pray for Him to save her. And He did. And another truth is, He did give me the happiness that was my wife and daughter. He may have taken it, but He had also given it to me when I thought there was nothing left for me but hell. He really does work in mysterious ways it seems. And after everything, I do not feel he is our enemy, and that there is a reason for everything that he has done."

She stared at him, deep into his eyes. He felt like she was staring directly into his soul. _Then again, right now, I am a soul, aren't I?_

She broke the silence with a very firm question. "Do you truly feel that way? Do you truly feel you need to throw everything that we have worked for on a hunch?" Her face remained unchanging, her eyes unblinking. Her resolution unfading. She did not waver in her beliefs at all, but she did not outright reject him, either. She trusted him enough to take his thoughts into consideration.

"I do," he replied, conviction in his voice. "I do not believe that Otonashi is our enemy. I do not believe God is either. While I do understand why you have these feelings of hatred, He has done so much for me already, even if He took it away from me. Even though I hate it." His voice began to crack, tears welling in his eyes. The rush of emotions from the memories of his hellish life began to impact him. The sorrow raising anew. "I believe it happened for some reason. And I believe that I will be able to see my family again." He wiped his tears, and brought conviction back into his voice. These were his true feelings, and Ellie understood.

Ellie closed her eyes and sighed. Opening them back up and biting her teeth, she replied to Okazaki, "Fine. I will follow you, and so shall the Battlefront."

Shock arose on Okazaki's face. He couldn't believe what she had just said. He never intended for this to happen. He never intended for her to take the Battlefront in a new direction. Especially not to follow him.

"But!" Ellie yelled loudly, making Okazaki jump in surprise. "If I ever feel that your motives become false, that you show signs of being corrupted, I will take you down. The only real reason I am going to join you is because I think that Carter might end up doing something, how do you put it, rash, and cause some major problems. Maybe even an outright catastrophe."

Okazaki smiled. There was nothing else for him to do. There was no other real way that he could express how he felt. Such a simple thing, yet it held so much meaning. "Thank you."


	7. Chapter 7: Negotiations

**Hey guys, sorry for the extremely long wait for this chapter. I have been in a lot of other hobbies, and this fanfic kind of slipped my mind. I have been AMV editing, Skateboarding, hanging with friends, getting together a team for Halo 4, and all kinds of other stuff. So, I am really sorry. But, he you go. I hope you enjoy it.**

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

Negotiations

"Damn," Otonashi exclaimed, whistling. "Sounds like you really fucked up." He sat as his chair in the Student Council room, legs crossed, arms folded, a smirk on his face.

"Oh, shove it you ass!" yelled Ellie. "I should beat the shit out...!"

Before she could finish what she was about to say, Okazaki elbowed her in the side, cutting her off with a sharp pain. "Ow! That wasn't necessary," she whispered him.

"Actually," he replied, "it was. We need this guy's help. Whether we like it or not, he is the only person with the power to stop Carter, whatever the hell he is planning to do. How crazy he is, for all we know he could try to destroy the whole damn world. So don't fuck it up."

"Fine, fine. But don't expect me to like it."

Clearing his throat to grab their attention, Otonashi spoke. "If you two are done whispering amongst yourselves, I wouldn't mind you two getting to the point of this little... 'Visit'" He obviously wasn't too enthused about them coming to him. Then again, why should he be? He was more used to these people trying to blow him up rather than having civilized conversations with him.

"We just told you!" Ellie yelled. "Weren't you listening?!"

So far, not quite civilized either.

"Well, over the years, you have never listened to a word I had to say to you. That's why you got blown into dreamland back during the second generation's prime."

Ellie obviously wasn't happy to hear that, but she couldn't think of a good reply, especially since Otonashi was completely right. "Whatever," she replied begrudgingly, crossing her arms, and looking away.

Okazaki on the other hand, was more calm about the whole situation.

"Oh come on," he retorted. "Can we please be a bit more civilized about this? This whole situation could really fuck this whole world up"

Otonashi was skeptical. "How could your friend having a paranoid hissy fit 'fuck this world up?'" He obviously didn't believe that Carter would be able to do anything minor, let alone a world changing catastrophe.

"You remember the night where you first used the Meteorite Strike against us?"

"Meteorite Strike?" Otonashi looked confused. "What the hell is that?"

Ellie gave him what was probably the dumbest look that she could muster. Okazaki felt that it was quite hard for her to believe that Otonashi knew nothing about the attack that not only destroyed the Battlefront two years ago, but again just the other day.

"Bull!" she yelled at him. "You know exactly what we are talking about! That massive ball of energy you summon and basically blow the entire campus to hell and back!" Her face was blood red with anger.

"Oh," he said, realization, almost childlike, displayed on his face. "The Infernus."

"Infernus?" Ellie asked. "What does that mean?"

"That isn't important. Regardless, yes I do remember that night. I was about to let all of you off with a warning, then you had to go and shoot me in the back."

Okazaki quickly glanced to Ellie, who was shaking with anger, more-so at herself because she knew that was exactly the reason that it all happened. And she definitely isn't happy that he up and burned her in front of her ally. She was getting more and more heated up and Okazaki knew that if negotiations didn't get better right then and there, that they would break down altogether and Carter's threat would reign supreme without the ally they needed so much but hated just as well.

He wasn't looking forward to this party.

"Would both of you just stop bickering like two little children for five damn minutes?!" Okazaki yelled at them. His patience had finally worn this to the point that he had popped. "I know you two aren't that fond of each other, am I wrong? You two have been on the opposite sides of the same shitty coin so you can't see what the other one sees. Right now, you need to put all that shit behind you and focus on the crisis at hand."

Ellie and Otonashi were both completely stunned, staring at him like they had just seen a ghost. When technically, that is the case, but what is the point of technicalities in this world?

"Ill just put this shit bluntly. Carter is a manipulator that is easily manipulated. Ellie told me about the first time you used Meteorite Strike or Infernus or whatever any of you want to call it, and you heard him. He is very good with words. But at the same time, he is too trusting, yet too paranoid. He comes to trust someone easily, but he can lose it just as easily. I remembered how you told me just before I left from talking with Fuko that something strange was happening and that you were actually our greatest ally rather than our greatest enemy. I have the sinking feeling that our two problems may work hand-in-hand and become even worse. So, I think we could mutually benefit from, at least temporarily, a truce.

They both stared at him. Looking down, then at each other, obviously deep in though, they both gave the consensus and their agreement. They both knew that something needed to be done. They didn't know why, against what, exactly, or how they would do it, but they knew. They had both been there long enough that they knew something strange was brewing. Well, at east Otonashi did. Ellie had been too wrapped up in her war with Otonashi to notice, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized he was right.

"Okay," Okazaki said more calmly now. "What do you two propose we do? You are the leaders after all."

"Not much we can do with both our forces dwindling so much," Ellie stated. "Even the Angel Guard is about empty since the last fight."

"Can't deny that," Otonashi agreed. They were obviously in agreement on one thing anyway. "After the last big battle, most of the people on both our sides just started acting like normal students to get erased right away. And it worked. Almost ninety-five percent have been erased so far."

"And who's fault is that?" Ellie snidely asked him.

"For your information, I don't have a thing to do with people being erased. That is completely up to the person in question. I just try to help things along."

Now it was Okazaki's turn to look shocked, and Ellie joined him just the same. "What?" he asked.

Turning to Ellie, he whispered to her, "I thought you said that Angel erased us and that we had to fight against him to keep ourselves alive, metaphorically speaking."

"That's what I thought too," she replied. "I did tell you the only information we have been able to garner is that from some very low ranking members of the first generation. Nothing else. And those journals all stated that Angel was an enemy that erased anyone and everyone from the world where everyone could be truly happy."

"Yes, that is what the first generation thought, but..." Otonashi was stopped mid sentence as gunshots were heard coming from the outside. All three of them quickly stood up.

"What's going on?!" Ellie yelled.

"It couldn't be the Battlefront and the Guard fighting could it?" Okazaki asked her. "We told the Battlefront with strict orders not to fight. And you promised that the Guard would do the same."

"I did tell them not to fight," Otonashi replied, "but those idiots are only human. Just like the rest of us." He looked just as surprised and stunned as well. Another thing was said that would have stunned Okazaki and Ellie, but they were too distracted to really noticed.

"Then what is..." but Ellie never got the chance to finish that sentence as a member of the Angel Guard and Gale burst through the door. They obviously weren't fighting each other, and one looked just as scared as the other.

"Ellie!" Gale yelled, panting the whole time. "It's the NPCs. They're attacking us!"


	8. Chapter 8: New Friends and New Enemies

**Hey guys. I came out with this chapter quite quickly. Hope you enjoy it. Please leave reviews.**

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

New Friends and New Enemies

"What did you say?!" Ellie screamed at Gale. What she had just heard was even more absurd than everything else she had heard in the past two days. And that is saying something.

"Like I said!" he replied, extremely frustrated, obviously ignoring the normal amounts of respect he usually showed. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to relay this highly important information at all costs. "We were just standing around with the Guard, who really aren't bad people we quickly found out, and they just showed up. Hundreds of NPCs just showed up out of nowhere. They were all loaded with anything from machetes to machine guns. They're tearing us apart!"

The sounds of gunfire from outside were insane. It sounded like a warzone out of a movie.

"Me and Terrance were the only ones able to escape and get to you." He stood there, stunned, and then said, "But, I guess that wasn't really necessary since you would hear the gunfire." He felt slightly stupid, but oh well." The wild look was slowly fading from his eyes as Ellie quickly mulled over the information.

"We have to fight back," she replied. "We don't have much a choice since it's the NPCs. They are everywhere and, just like us, cannot die. We have no safe areas from them. Right?" Ellie turned to Otonashi after asking him this, hoping for agreement. Truth was, she just wanted a good fight.

"That isn't entirely true."

"What?" Ellie asked, shocked. "Where else could we hide. The woods is off limits, I mean come on. It's easy enough to follow someone in there. Especially a big group."

"I never said it was the woods. They will never find us where I am thinking of." He looked down while biting his lip. "If it's even still accessible." He obviously didn't seem to enthused at the thought of sending them there.

"And where is this place?" Okazaki asked.

"I'll take you," he replied back. "But first, we need to get out people out of there."

The three of them quickly rushed from the room into the hall heading for the door leading outside with Gale and Terrance following closely behind. Bursting from the door they came upon the scene of a huge last stand. Hundreds against tens. Horribly outmatched, but never giving in, especially to this unliving new enemy, the remaining forces of the Battlefront and the Angel Guard fought it out with the endless stream of NPCs flooding the campus.

Ellie and Otonashi knew it was too much a risk to try and get near the slaughter and called up their respective units their walkie-talkies. They ordered them back into the school and that they were to follow Otonashi's lead.

Slowly, oh ever so slowly, the two groups brought their units back into the school to move to their next location.

Unfortunately, the crowded hallways simply made them better targets for the rampaging NPCs. The Battlefront and the Guard slowly carved their way through each hallway, slowly one by one. Seconds felt like hours, hours felt like days, and hell seemed to rip the school up from it's foundations. The event was unprecedented.

Each new hallway showed new enemies for them to tear down. New enemies to spend precious ammunition on. New enemies to destroy their friends, one by one.

Then, all of a sudden, with no warning what-so-ever, the fighting stopped. The NPCs just suddenly dispersed. Just dropped their weapons and walked away.

Otonashi screamed down the line of broken, shambling bodies. "Everyone, now is our chance. We need to get moving to out destination." He was obviously very desperate to get to this location. Wherever it was, Okazaki had no clue, but it must be safe if he wants to get everyone there as soon as possible. But, there was no chance of that, more than three fourths of their group was either unconscious or wounded so badly, they couldn't move efficiently. Even Okazaki took a bullet to shoulder. Not a pain he welcomed, that is for sure.

Ellie obviously agreed as she soon spoke up. "There is no way in hell we can go any further. At least, not without a rest and a chance to get the rest of the dead back to life, so to speak." She looked like she could barely stand, let alone make it to the other side of the school, which is where they were told they needed to get to.

"We have to!"

"Well, we can't!" Ellie yelled back, obviously frustrated with the whole situation. "We are way too fucked up to get past this hallway, let along halfway across this absurdly massive boarding school."

Otonashi obviously couldn't deny the logic in her words, and after taking a look at their group, decided that she was right. So, he ordered all those who could still work to move the bodies and wounded into the nearby classroom and barricade it up. Okazaki tried to help, but his shoulder wound was too much for him to bear, especially putting the strain of carrying someone on it.

So, he moved into the classroom and sat down with everyone else. Ellie was out like a light within seconds because she was so tired. Even Otonashi was starting to drift off. But, before Okazaki could look at anyone else, he drifted off to dreamland himself.

Nightmares tore apart Okazaki's mind. Flashes of the death and destruction of the past few hours ripped through his sleep like small daggers piercing his brain.

Cory taking a machete through the throat.

Gale having his arm torn off by a shotgun slug.

Tsubaki torn down in a hailstorm of bullets.

Not to mention all the other Battlefront and Guard members that were completely devastated. There were hardly enough people to carry the pseudo-dead. There wasn't a single person apart of the group that wasn't injured in one way or another.

And these images tore through his mind over and over and over. Blood, gore, all out hell flashed through his dreamland vision.

And as if to kick him while he was down, he started seeing other things.

Instead of the Battlefront and Guard being killed this way...

He say Nagisa. He saw Ushio. He saw Sanae and Akio. Kyou, Ryou, Sunohara, Tomoyo, Kotomi, Fuko, and all of the amazing people that he had loved in his life. All of them being brutally murdered in front of his eyes. The horror was too much.

And too make it worse...

It repeatedly showed him Nagisa and Ushio's deaths over and over. In many different ways but all horrible beyond belief. He screamed, but no sound came as the terror coursed through his mind.

_Why didn't you save me? _The voice of Nagisa froze him in place. Tears rushed down his cheeks.

_ Why didn't you save me? _This time it was Ushio. Her small frame, silhouetted against the blackness of his mind. Soon the both appeared next to each other. _Why didn't you protect us?_ They repeated this over and over again. This was hell incarnate to Okazaki.

Slowly more and more of his friends would come. Their bodies mangled and bloody, asking _Why didn't you protect us? Why didn't you protect us?_ Over and over again, the hell replayed in his dreams. No longer could he stand it. He looked for any way out. Anything that could end the pain. Anything.

And he saw it.

So far away as it should be impossible to see. Yet he still saw it.

A gun.

A small gun. But he knew. He knew that that small gun could end it. Could end it all. Finally give him the peace he had been seeking. And end to the hell. What he wanted all along.

He eagerly rushed for it. Nearly stumbling over himself on several occasions.

He finally reached for the gun and put it to his head with no hesitation. He clicked off the safety and pulled the trigger. But in the split second before the gun went off time slowed. His love Nagisa and his daughter Ushio. All his friends. Even his new ones from this world, all appeared to him for a split second and said, _Why didn't you save yourself?_

Okazaki's screams tore through the small classroom.

Everyone shot him a startled look, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.

"Okazaki, what's wrong?!" Ellied yelled to him.

He shook his head and sighed. _It was just a dream._ "It's nothing. Just a bad dream, that's all." It may have been "just a dream," but it still left Okazaki trembling. "So, how long have I been out?"

"About four hours," Otonashi replied. He seemed exhausted. Okazaki wondered if he had slept at all since the battle.

"Anything happen?"

"Nope."

"Well," said Otonashi, "now that everyone is back, we should make for our destination."

"What the hell is this destination?" Okazaki asked. He was tired of having no damn clue about what it was they were headed for. He wanted answers and he was starting to lose what little trust in Otonashi he already had. "How do we know that you aren't one of them and tricking us into a trap?"

"If I were one of them would I have done everything I did to save your asses back there?"

He had a point there. "Fine, but can you at least tell us when we get there?"

"No," he bluntly replied. "I cannot. I don't want to take any risk of us being overheard and it's location leaked. This place is," he paused for a second, trying to find the most fitting word to describe it. "Special."

Okazaki bit his lip. He wasn't happy about this. One quick glance over at Ellie revealed that she felt the same way. But they had to deal with it. If it turned out Otonashi was one of the enemy, then they would fight tooth and nail to get their asses out of there. He had best not expect an easy victory over the, or he would be sorely disappointed.

The group followed Otonashi to the gymnasium. They incurred no resistance along the way.

"Mason. Cory." Otonashi called to the two boys. "I want you to guard the entrance. I don't want a single damn soul to see where we are going. And the second I call for you, I want you in here now, following us."

"What makes you think you can order me around?!" Cory yelled back at him. He didn't take orders from anybody besides Ellie. Call it a defining characteristic.

"There is no time to be worrying about who is giving the orders, dammit!" Otonashi yelled. "Just do it!"

Cory clicked his tongue, but he did what he was told.

Otonashi told Gale and I to help him pull back this massive rack of fold able chairs out from a storage room. After pulling them out, there was a barely noticeable crack in the floor. Otonashi pulled it out, revealing a laddered passageway underground.

"So," Okazaki asked, "where the hell does this thing go?"

Otonashi looked up at him from his crouched position. He stared at Okazaki for a moment and said...

"The Guild."


	9. Chapter 9: Beautiful Song

**Hey guys. This chapter is somewhat different. It, along with the next few chapters will mostly be a unique recap of essential events of the Angel Beats series for anyone who had yet to see it (which I highly recommend doing), or is just going to get a refresher on it. But, there are things that happen in between that will be foreshadowing to later parts of the story, so I still highly recommend reading it.**

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><p>Chapter 9<p>

Beautiful Music

The climb down the ladder seemed endless. As if it went on forever. Minutes passed by, but they felt like hours. It was as if time had no relevance here.

After about a half hour climb, they reached the bottom of the cave. Most of the group was exhausted, still worn out from the battle hours before. Fortunately, Otonashi seemed more willing to let everyone rest.

"Okazaki!" Ellie called over to him, waving him over to her. Grunting with effort, he pulled himself up off the ground and strode to where he was standing.

"What?" he asked.

"It's time we got some answers from Angel, er, Otonashi."

Okazaki raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You aren't calling him Angel anymore?"

She bit her lip, pausing for a moment. "Well, some things he said have been making me doubt who he really is. Whether or not our assumption about him was wrong."

"Well, you know what they say about assumptions." She shot him a dirty look, but didn't say anything back. This whole event was greatly stressing her out. Right now, all of her beliefs were being challenged.  
>"Otonashi!" Okazaki yelled. Otonashi looked up from the Guard who's wounds he was expecting.<p>

"It's nothing that won't go away after a short while," he told the Guard and strode over to Okazaki and Ellie.

"What do you want?" he asked them.

"Answers," Ellie demanded. She wasn't in the mood to be playing around. "Where the hell are we?"

Otonashi sighed, but gave in. "Come with me," he told them.

They followed Otonashi a short ways off and sat down.

"Okay, this place is the tunnels leading to the Guild."

"And that is?" Ellie asked impatiently.

"The Guild is where the First Generation would build their weapons. It was a massive underground fortress of factories and housing for the engineers. They would spend the entirety of their time building weapons and making ammunition for the combat forces of the Battlefront."

"Underground factories?" Ellie asked in shock. "A fortress? Just how huge was this place?"

"Absolutely massive. I was in absolute awe when I first came here with Yuri."

"Yuri?!" Ellie yelled. "As in Yuri Nakamura?! The first leader of the Battlefront?!"

"The very same."

"Why would she take you to their secret underground fortress. You're the enemy!"

Otonashi sighed. "You must think of me in the same light we thought of Kanade. At least, until we learned the truth. Let me guess. You believe that I am an Angel sent by God to erase all of you. Am I wrong?"

"No, you are spot on."

"Well, you are wrong. There has never been such a being in this world. I am a normal human just like yourselves. I lived a terrible youth, and came here. Well wait, that isn't accurate. But, that is for later. There are other things I have to explain first."

Okazaki and Ellie stared at him, waiting for his explanation, but he remained silent. Contemplating what to do, he silently sat there.

"Okay," he finally spoke. "This is the gist of how it all started."

Otonashi suddenly awoke to find himself lying on the cold, concrete ground.

"Where am I?" _I don't remember anything._

"So you're finally awake are you?" spoke an unfamiliar voice. "Since you are here, I guess that means you are dead."

"Um..." he paused. He was having difficulty believing what he was seeing and hearing. In front of him, was a girl with medium length hair in a sailor uniform. Holding a gun, and telling him that he was dead. It was like something out a cheesy movie. "Is that a real gun?"

The girl sighed, taking her eyes away from the scope and said, "Everyone who come's here says that." Looking back she continued, "You need to be more flexible accept things for what they are." After a brief pause she returned to her scope and said, "And fight."

"Against what?"

"That," she replied, pointing to the game field ahead of them. "Angel."

In the field stood a petite young girl. Looked like maybe a first year. Long, silver hair flowed, shining off the light of the moon. She looked mesmerizing. Something about her appearance was utterly beautiful.

_No matter how you look at it, that's just a normal girl. _

"Uh, I am gonna go down there."

The girl whipped around in a split second and pushed him down. "Why would you want to do that?! Do you want to die?!" She just stared at Otonashi and he stared back. "Well?" she asked. "Was it funny?"

"Huh?" The look Otonashi had was a hardcore "say what" look. He looked a bit funny.

"It's a joke in this world, since you can't die and all."

"My opinion on the joke aside, I think I will have better luck talking to someone who doesn't point guns a girls."

The girl stood up and put her hands on her hips. "I am your ally. You can trust me. If you don't want me to shoot her, I won't."

Otonashi was just about to calm down when a man suddenly came running towards them. Carrying a gun as well. He though he had seen it somewhere before. The guns that the terrorists in the Middle East liked to use against the American soldiers. A something-47. "Yurippe!" he yelled. "Did you get the newbie yet? We got to recruit him no matter what dirty trick we need to... er." Seeing Yuri facepalm, and Otonashi giving him a dumb look, he stopped mid-sentence.

Otonashi proceeded to stand up and walk down the stairway to the field. "I'm going down there," he told them.

"Damn!" the girl yelled. "I failed! What went wrong?!" She continued to scream as he descended the stairs to the field.

Approaching the young girl who was curiously still standing exactly where she was moments ago as if she was waiting for someone, he told her, "Hey, there is someone pointing a gun at you. She called you an Angel or something.

"I am not an Angel," she replied. Her voice was very monotone, yet at the same time had a melodic ring to it.

"I knew..." but was interrupted.

"I am the Student Council President."

Otonashi sighed. "Dammit!" he yelled. "She was just screwing with me. I guess I will go to the hospital and see if they can do anything about this amnesia."

But, before he could walk away, the girl told him, "There are no hospitals here."

"What?" He didn't see why there wouldn't be any hospitals. Those are a bit of a necessity that most people need. "Why?"

"Because no one gets sick."

"Huh? And why is that?"

"Because," she said, with a slight pause then continued, "everyone is dead."

Bells started ringing in Otonashi's head. "You're in on this too, aren't you?!" he yelled at her. He was getting quite angry by now. "Let me guess. Are you the reason that I have amnesia?! Are you the reason I am here?!"

"Amnesia is quite common among the people here. When many die, they hit their heads and lose their memories."

Otonashi was fuming now. "Then prove it! Prove that I can't die since I... am... already... dead." The expression on the girl's face was unmistakable. She was planing to do something. As he was contemplating what she was going to do, the girl spoke.

"Hand Sonic." Suddenly, a blade materialized out of her right hand. Long, and obviously sharp. Otonashi suddenly realized what she was going to do. She was going to prove he was dead. Which obviously meant killing him.

"Hey," Otonashi said, slowly backing away. "Wait a sec..."

But, before he could finish his sentence, the girl charged forward at inconceivable speed and lodged the blade deep into his chest, bursting his heart. He blacked out instantly.

"Wait, wait, wait," Okazaki stopped Otonashi. "Are you telling me this little girl was the first Angel?" He found it hard to believe.

"She wasn't a little girl, just petite," Otonashi explained. "Small frame and the like. But here is the thing. She wasn't an Angel, as you should have noticed from my story, she was a normal student just like us. But..." Otonashi paused for a moment, probably trying to decide what to say next. "But she knew the real reason behind this world and chose to oppose us."

"What real reason?" asked Ellie. She was obviously very interested in this. She was learning everything about the enemy she had been fighting for so long. While she was taking everything he said with a grain of salt, she was still quite interested.

"I'll get to that eventually, just let me continue my story."

Otonashi continued to tell them of the things that had happened after. Waking up in the Battlefront headquarters. His first mission, Operation Tornado. Their descent into the Guild which lead specifically to it's destruction as it's location had been discovered by Angel. Not to mention that all but Yuri and Otonashi had been "done in" during that mission.

He also described the horrible events that lead to Yuri's creation of the Battlefront. Her hellish life. How a few men broke into her house looking for money. They were unsuccessful, and in frustration told her that if she didn't find something of value, they would kill one of her siblings every ten minutes.

Rushing through her house, she looked in every room that she knew where things of value may lay, but should could not find anything. Then she spotted it. The clock read ten minutes past from when she started looking she was out of time. She tried to take the first thing she saw. A very large vase with very detailed patterns on it. _Something this heavy should be worth money, _she had though. But, going down the stairs, she slipped and fell. The vase shattered on the floor. And the police arrived thirty minutes later.

Yuri's story was over, but Otonashi didn't stop there.

A beautiful voice rang throughout the headquarters. Iwasawa was singing. Nothing new. But today was special. What she was singing wasn't your standard pop punk that they normally sung. This was a ballad. It's meaning difficult to understand, yet it still resonated with those standing there, listening.

After she finished, Yuri asked her, "Why is your new song a ballad?"

"Is that a problem?" Iwasawa asked back.

"For a diversion, yes." Yuri was firm on her decision, and even gave a logical reason behind it. Otonashi felt a bit sad that her hard work was about to be crushed. "We won't be able to go all out for our missions if the normal students are quietly listening to your song."

"Gotcha," Iwasawa replied. She was very good at hiding her emotions, but just a little bit a sadness shown through on her face. Otonashi barely noticed, but her could tell she was very dejected. "Ill scrap it then."

"Fine," Yuri stated, finality in her voice. "Our next operation, we will be infiltrating Angel's lair."

Everyone was shocked to hear this. And they definitely voiced their complaints. However, the operation was set for a few nights later. This was the first time that GirlDeMo had ever pre-advertised one of their concerts, due to the fact that the teachers might wall them off, but because of the importance of the mission, they needed the best distraction they could muster.

Later in the day, Otonashi was walking aimlessly through the school. He stopped at the vending machine to buy a Key Coffee and soon noticed the sound of music blaring from the nearby classroom. Peaking inside, he saw that it was the room that GirlDeMo was practicing in. As he watched a closeup, firsthand experience of their music, he instantly recognized the passion that they had for what they did. Hisako, the lead guitarist on her Fender Jassmaster pouring out amazing riffs. Miyuki, hitting the drums with amazing vigor and passion. Shioi, producing an almost soothing, yet energized sound on her G&L L-2000 Bass Guitar. And last, but not least, Iwasawa, pouring her heart out into the most beautiful lyrics Otonashi had heard, and producing an amazing rhythm with her Sienna Sunburst-Maple Fender Stractocaster.

"Shoot," Hisako exclaimed when her string broke. "I'll have her re-stringed in a moment."

Iwasawa sighed, and said "Take five then, everyone." That's when she noticed Otonashi standing outside the room, watching them practice. He lifted up the hand holding his coffee in greeting.

"So," Otonashi said after Iwasawa moved out into the hallway and sat down for a rest, "you guys were amazing. I can see why the normal students love you so much."

Seemingly ignoring the comment, she states, "Must be nice not having any memory."

Glancing over at her, Otonashi asks, "Are your memories as bad as..." He stopped before continuing, not sure if Iwasawa knew of Yuri's past and if Yuri wanted to keep it a secret. Something she only told him.

"You heard someone's past?"

Giving in, he told her.

"Ah," she said, sighing. She took a drink from her water bottle and continued. "Yuri's were the worst. Mine? I just wasn't able to the sing the songs I wanted, that's all."

My parents were always fighting. My dad got drunk and would hit my mother.

I didn't have my own bedroom, so I would curl up in a small corner and cover my ears, trying to block out the constant screaming.

One day, I was in a store and saw a rack of music. Rock, to be specific. I put the headphones on and it hit me like a wave. I had never heard anything like it. It spoke to me in a way I had never experienced in my life.

The singer was from a bad home environment like me. Whenever things would happen, he would put on his headphones and lose himself in the world of music. He was right. What he sung of, was right. Those who pretended that the world was this happy little place were wrong! Those who suffered and cried and lived just to survive were right! The lyrics urged me on like no other. I love them. And I did as he did.

And that is when I found it. An old, beat up acoustic guitar, sitting in the trash during a rainstorm. It called to me, I swear. I took it and ran home. Teaching myself to play, I started doing street performances. I was getting better, and more and more people stopped to listen to me. After middle school, I never went to high school and I lived off of part time jobs and street performances. But that didn't stop me from going to auditions for music labels as often as I could. I would play, be turned down, play, be turned down. Such a vicious cycle. But I didn't lose my hope. I still played and knew that one day, I would live off my music.

But then it happened.

I was working at a local restaurant, when I suddenly got very dizzy. I told myself that I would have to cancel the street performance if I was sick. And I fainted.

When I woke up in the hospital, I could not speak. The doctors told me what happened.

A few days before, my dad came home especially drunk. He got into another fight with my mother and starting beating her. I tried to get in and stop him, but... he smashed in my head with the alcohol bottle.

Turns out, that the injury had left me with a head trauma that destroyed some of my basic functions. Including my ability to speak.

How would I sing now? How would I live my dream now?

Thing is, I couldn't. I stayed there in the hospital bed. I lost my will to live. The only reason I stayed alive, was because of the IV drips the doctors kept putting in me. Eventually, the lack of will to live outweighed the nutrients my body was receiving. My mind died, and my soul with it.

Otonashi couldn't help but stare. This girl had just told him her life's story, and it was not a happy one.

"Iwasawa!" Hisako called from the classroom they were practicing in.

"Oh, Hisako," Iwasawa replied, standing up. Just as she was about to pass through the door she turned around called, "Amnesia Boy!" and passed her water bottle to him. "Take that." Then she walked inside and their practice resumed.

That night.

"Operation start!" Yuri yelled, signaling the beginning of the infiltration of Angel's lair. Otonashi didn't really know what he was expecting, but he went with them regardless.

Girls Dead Monster, however, took off for the stage in the gymnasium for their concert.

Kneeling before her acoustic, an exact replica of the one she had in life made by her own hands, she spoke to it with a tender voice known by no one else. "This is the special stage just for you." Smiling, she stood up and grabbed her electric.

Standing behind the curtains of the state, holding her guitar, she turned to her band and said, "Let's bring this place down!" Thrusting down her hand to strum the guitar, they blew through the stage with Crow Song.

However, by the time the song was finished, the gym wasn't even a fourth of the way full. _Damnit! _Iwasawa yelled to herself in her mind. _This is not enough. Not anywhere near enough! _

Then, she made a shocking decision. She decided to play Alchemy as the second song. This was usually the song they used to get the crowd as heightened as possible, but she was willing to risk it. They needed more people.

As Iwasawa started the intro, Hisako shot a shocked glance at her. _Alchemy?! This early in?! _Pushing her own thoughts aside, she began to play her part.

This drew a crowd.

Otonashi and the others just finished picking the lock into Angel's lair. As they went inside, Otonashi noticed something that was quite... evident. Flipping the switch one and scaring the wits out of everyone there, he yelled, "This is just a normal girl's room!" Matsushita put Otonashi in a headlock and told him to shut up because they were in the girl's dormitory.

Takeyama, the team's hacker, then began to hack into Angel's laptop, as Otonashi continued to protest the act. Until Noda but the spear end of his halberd in his mouth, telling him to shut it or he's done.

This soon revealed some shocking evidence of something only Yuri was able to surmise. Otonashi soon learned of it, as well as Hinata. It was the first hint that Angel, was actually not an angel. She made her own powers the same way the Battlefront made their own weapons. She didn't get them from God. She made them herself. Yuri believed that this to be the worst case scenario. That there was no God.

All while that was happening, disaster hit the concert.

Teachers burst through the door, plowing through protesting students and stopped the concert. The help down the band members and started to clear away the equipment. "You got cocky because we overlooked this before! But no more! Now, you will only play during school festivals!" Walking over to the acoustic placed on it's stand of a pedestal, he picked it and asked, "So what? Can we just trash this?"

Iwasawa started shaking. "No." She said, her voice cracking. "You will not touch that guitar!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, broke free from the teacher restraining her, tackled the one holding the guitar and backed against the wall holding it to her chest.

At the same time this was happening, Hisako headbutted the teacher holding her down and ran for the sound room. Bursting through the door, she upped the pickup on the hanging mics so that they could pickup the sound of Iwasawa's acoustic. She knew what was about to happen. She also relayed the sound throughout the school's PA system.

As the teachers slowly closed in on her, Iwasawa began playing.

Something about the sound froze the entire room. All eyes focused completely on her. Even the teachers stopped their advance.

Jerks feigning common sense

Are laughing at us

What lies will they tell us next?

Can they lovingly display

What they've gained from all that?

But we must keep walking towards tomorrow

That's why I'm singing!

The look of shock on the faces of everyone in the room was apparent. The song spoke to them, even those with no real soul, in a way that nothing had ever before. Many started shaking, emotion building up like no other.

Because you're crying!

Because you're lonely!

You are right!

You are human!

The tears you shed!

Are saying,

"Thank you for the beautiful, real me!"

That is not just some lie!

Thank you for the miracle.

There was not a single person in that auditorium that didn't shed at least one tear.

There was something different about the way she sung. Sure, before she sung with amazing passion and vigor, but there was something all round different about it this time. This time, she sung with the voice of an angel. As if her entire being was dedicated to singing this one song.

_I did it. _She thought. _These people. They love my music. _

Images of her life flashed before her eyes, emotions poured into her voice. _Finally._

The sound of a thud reverberated throughout the auditorium as the guitar fell to the ground. The normal students will never understand, but anyone with a true soul knew what just happened. Iwasawa was gone. She had disappeared.

She had been obliterated.

"Those," Otonashi finished, "were the first two clues we had to the truth of this world."

Okazaki and Ellie stared at him, shocked. But Okazaki noticed something that didn't add up. "How did you know what she was thinking?" he asked. "I understand you knowing what had happened, as someone could have told you, but what she thought. That makes no sense."

"A few years ago," Otonashi returned, "I found a room full of long rows of boxes. Each box contained files. Each file contained the thoughts and actions of the people that lived here. After reading a few I was incredibly curious about, in hopes that it would allow me to find better ways to further along those who come here's happiness, I soon found that the room could be very dangerous should the wrong person find it. So I destroyed it." He thought for a moment and continued, "Well, more accurately, I buried it."

"Huh," Ellie sighed. It seems that she was very interested in this particular room. But Okazaki had to agree with him. A room like that could be dangerous. He wondered why such a room would even exist.

"Well, let's keep on with the story," Otonashi said.

He told them of the baseball game that nearly obliterated Hinata. Of how it was an absurdly similar match to the one that basically had ruined his life. After missing a catch that would have won his baseball club an insanely important match and being crucified by his upperclassman, he was thrown into sort of a shocked depression. That's when it happened. Someone offered him something to help "dull the pain." His life spun downhill from there, and he eventually died, ending up in the Afterlife.

He also spoke of their attempts at removing the original Angel from her seat as Student Council President. They sabotaged her tests and this lead to her dismissal. However, the vice president took power, and this is where the next story begins.


	10. Chapter 10: Family is Complicated

**Hey, this chapter is another recap chapter. It focuses on Naoi. There should only be two more recap chapters and then I will be back to my story. The two other ones will focus on Otonashi's memories and a short recap of the final events of the original series.**

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

Family is Complicated

"Argh!" Hinata yelled, as he was leaving through the doorway to some small, dark room. "Free at last!"

"Who'd have thought that the Vice President would be such a hard ass," Fujimaki said.

"Well, there is nothing we can do about it," Yuri told him. "He is just a normal student, and you know that we don't fight them."

"I know, I know."

Otonashi stood toward the back, contemplating in his mind on many things. Now that everything was over, no Angel to fight or anything, he wondered what would happen. Would the group stay together? He didn't want this to end.

He kept to himself during this walk from the containment cell, which was literally a prison cell used for something similar to detention. He ignored Yui and Hinata's usual retarded arguments. Something about Yui suggesting she tried to seduce the Vice President, Hinata's negative retort, and Yui yelling back about how she would be perfect for it because she had awesome, soft boobs. Repeat: retarded.

Back in the Battlefront headquarters, the group was wondering where they would be lead to next. What they would do. Even Yuri could not find an answer and just told everyone to just do whatever they want. Just, not to do anything that could factor into their being erased.

Before he left, Yuri called for him. Walking over to her, she reached out and said, "Take this." It was a walkie talkie Hands down the most important piece of equipment a member of the Battlefront could have, and very few had even touched one. It sounds silly, but in this world, technology like the walkie talkie is hard to replicate. The school itself has always provided computers, but everything else, the Battlefront has had to acquire through their own creation.

"Isn't this really important?" he asked her.

"Just take it."

So he did, and went on his way.

Otonashi grabbed a coffee from the vending machine, chugged it, and threw it at the trash can yelling, "What's the point of keeping this up?!" None of the students around him even gave him a second thought.

He was frustrated that he had nothing to do. Not in the sense of boredom, but in the sense of distraction. He had been trying to ignore it, but with nothing to distract him from it, he couldn't. His missing memories. They had not come back yet. Not even the slightest. He was worried that if he got his memories back, then he wouldn't be able to be friends with everyone the way he was now. As there was always the possibility of something in his past that would ruin everything.

He finally decided he would just go to class and take a nap. But, as he walked in, he noticed that the room was empty save for one person. Angel. Kanade Tachibana. But, she didn't have that previous feeling of danger that she used to hold. She seemed just like any normal human. Walking over to her and sitting down he said something based on what he learned from the operation to strip Angel of her seat as Student Council President. She loved mabo dofu. An insanely hot food that burns to the touch, but was also very good.

"Hey" he said, a bit hesitantly, "I just tried this really good food called mabo dofu. It was really hot, but so good, so I was wondering if I could... buy... you..." he stopped in his tracks as Kanade quickly stood up and started walking away.

_She probably hates me, _he thought. But then she turned around and asked, "What's keeping you?"

Surprised, he looked up at her. "Right," he said, standing up. He followed her out of the classroom and off to the cafeteria.

Sitting at the cafeteria, Otonashi sat there, shocked, staring at Kanada, as he ate the mabo dofu like it was nothing. When he had tried it, he thought his head would pop, but here she is eating it like some normal food. Taking a bite, the flames engrossed his mouth in seconds, burning his entire body. But at the same time, he could not deny that the mabo dofu was insanely delicious.

"What are you doing, Kanade?" spoke a demanding voice from behind Otonashi. Turning around, he saw the Vice President, Naoi Ayato standing behind him.

"What do you thing?!" he yelled back. "Were eating!"

"It is against school rules to eat during break," he said back calmly.

This surprised Otonashi. He had never heard of this rule. He looked over at Kanade going, "Huh?" and back to the Vice President going "Huh?" again. He felt that he probably had a very stupid look on his face. He did.

The sound of a crash as the door closed and Otonashi rammed against it to try and get out reverberated throughout the small cell. The door that blocked their exit was unlike any other they had witnessed. A foot thick of steel with numerous locks and security mechanisms to make sure that whoever is inside, won't be getting out. "Dammit!" Otonashi yelled.

Turning to Kanade, he asked in desperation, "Can't you do something?"

"No, sorry," she replied flatly. "We broke the rules, so this is where we have to be." She took off her shoes and set them on the ground. Pulling herself onto the makeshift cot, she fell asleep within seconds.

Then, he remembered that he got the radio from Yuri. Pulling it out of his pocket, and jammed down the broadcast button, he yelled, "Yuri! Are you there?! Listen we need help! I'm with Angel, and were trapped!" But there was no reply. Only static. "Damn thing!" he yelled, and threw it at the wall. "Piece of shit doesn't work."

Sighing, Otonashi knew that there was nothing that he could do. So, he sat down and went to sleep himself.

A little while later, he awoke to the sound of Yuri's voice. Jumping up, he looked around, wondering where it was coming from. He looked down and spotted the walkie talkie on the bed, and the transmission light stating that someone was making contact was flashing.

Practically diving for it, he picked it up and heard Yuri's voice come through it. "Otonashi, are you there?"

"Yes!" he yelled back. "I am!"

"Hello?" she replied. "Well, I'll assume that you can hear this."

_Fuck! _He yelled this in his mind. _She can't hear me!_

"It turns out, Naoi wasn't a normal student." Otonashi's eyes widened at this news. "Normally, a normal student living as the vice president of the student council would be erased, but he has been balancing himself out by committing brutal acts against the other normal students." Her voice was cracking, thus, something big was obviously happening or about to happen, and it was pissing Otonashi off that he couldn't do anything. "We're going to battle," she said after a long pause. "One like we have never had before. We need you to find Angel right now. We need her help, as much as I hate to admit it." After a moment, she resumed, "I bet you are with here right now, aren't you? Well..." Before she could finish, she was cut off by the sound of gunfire. "We're fighting. Yuri out!"

"God dammit!" he screamed, punching the wall. He crawled over to Kanade and woke her up with quick, desperate shakes. "Please!" he yelled as she opened here eyes. "My friends are in trouble, they need our help!"

Rubbing her eyes, she replied in her usual monotone self, "That's strange. Aren't we the ones that need help?"

"Please!" he screamed.

Getting up slowly, she headed for the door. "Hand Sonic." Slashing the door with her main weapon did nothing but produce sparks. Otonashi looked down, frustration plainly on his face, but he looked up when he heard her continue. "Version two." A longer, thinner blade then produced itself where the original once lay. "Whoa," he said, astonished.

She slashed the door again, but to no avail. Looking at it, she said, "This version was meant to be faster and more agile, but it's still not strong enough to break through the door."

"How come?" he asked her.

"Because, these weapons were made for self defense, not offense.

Otonashi stared, but then quickly realized. The Battlefront made weapons to fight her, and she needed something to protect herself with. Had the Battlefront never made the weapons, she would never have made her guard skills.

"Are there any others?"

"Yes." Looking at her blade again, she spoke, "Version three." Then she did the same thing again, but "Verison Four" instead. However, version four was a little strange. It was like a giant, flower shaped mace of some sort. "This one was meant to be cute." She looked at Otonashi. "Is it?"

"Er... Yeah." He didn't think so, but he agreed anyway.

"You know," he spoke, "if I had not lost my memories, I may have ended up joining you instead."

"Me?" she asked. "That is impossible."

He didn't know why it would be impossible, but he still pressed the subject. "Well, wouldn't it be cool?"

"No," she replied, flatly.

And that is when it hit him. For someone to be friends with Kanade, that would mean they would have to live a happy, normal school-life. Which would mean that they would end up obliterated. Slowly, ever so slowly, Kanade would lose everyone that she cared for. A slow and agonizing hell with which Otonashi does not even want to imagine.

In light of this realization, Otonashi came up with a plan. "Hey, Kanade," he said. "I have an idea."

Switching back to Version Two, Kanade thrust the blade in between the small crack between the door and the wall. Switching to Version Three and then Version Four, the expansion caused the door to break in a small explosion. Rushing out, Otonashi grabbed her hand and pulled her to his destination.

When he arrived, all that was left were the remnants of a massacre. Dead bodies of Battlefront members lay everywhere. Blood washed away by the rain trailed and spread itself further and further along the ground. Look down, Otonashi spotted Naoi standing over the body of Hinata, who was mortally wounded. Rushing down, he sprinted for Hinata, almost tripping as he jumped the steps that were slick from rain. Naoi backed away, smiling, as he reached Hinata, falling to his knees and trying to shake him awake.

Hinata's eyes open and he smiled, saying, "You come to me first? Are you 'that way?'"

He shook Hinata again and yelled, "This is no time to be joking around!"

"Well, look at this," said the all to familiar voice of the student council vice president. "And after I spent all those years trying to build a facility to contain her, she breaks out anyway."

"Naoi!" Otonashi growled.

"You would try to defy me?" he asked. Something about the way he spoke was very arrogant. "Defy God?"

"What?" asked, confused.

"This world decides who can become God. We have the right, as we suffered in our lives. That gave us the right to become God! And I have become one!"

"You're insane!" Hinata yelled. "You're no God!"

Naoi crouched down beside the body of Yuri, and lifted her up. She was still alive. Not only that, but she was also still conscious. "One of the first things I did when I came to this world was practice an art that would give me the power I need. Hypnotism."

Looking at those holding guns at Otonashi and Kanade, they're eyes and faces held dead expressions. They were not in the normal frame of mind.

"Now," he spoke, looking at Yuri. She was trembling, scared of what he was going to do to here. The strong and powerful leader, reduced to a trembling mess. "I will make you happy." He was going to erase Yuri through forced acceptance of her life.

"No!"

Otonashi tackled Naoi in a split second, throwing them both onto the cold, wet ground. "Don't force her to accept that!" he screamed in Naoi's face. "Her life was real! Her's to accept or defy! It was the same with all of us!" The members of the Battlefront who were still conscious raised their heads with what little of their strength remained to watch this spectacle. "Wasn't your life just like ours?! Wasn't it real?!"

I was the one who died.

It was my brother who survived.

The fall from a tree branch breaking had killed by brother as he landed on a large stone.

But it was myself who died.

My brother was a renowned potter at even such a young age. My father praised him and focused only on my brother. I, on the other hand, was an unfortunate existence. My family ignored me, save for my brother who I played with often, and I usually spent all my time by myself playing video games.

But on the day of my brother's death, I died. Or at least, that is what my family told the world.

I was to replace my twin brother. I was to become the potter to take over the family business.

But I was no good. I failed every pot I made, and my father did nothing but scold me harshly for it. But I had a reason for living now. A reason to live on. And I loved it. I won a minor award once at an exhibition. But it was nothing to be proud of. My brother would have done so much better. My father told me, "Never do this again. Next time, do not disgrace me again!" It was harsh, but I knew that my father believed I could do it. That I had the ability.

But very soon, my father fell ill. Bedridden, his attitude to me changed. No longer did he scold me, but he looked at me with caring eyes. Every day as I brought him food, he would smile and thank me. Tell me what a great son I was. This may seem like a good thing, but in truth, I had lost my purpose.

With my father incapacitated, unable to teach me any longer, I would not be able to learn anything more in the field of pottery. And at my skill lever, I would never be able to run the studio. The purpose I had gained, even at the cost of my brother's life, was stripped away from me.

The cost so great, yet I still lost it. "God!" I screamed into the night.

"But wasn't your life still real?!" Otonashi screamed.

Naoi's eyes widened, and he looked up to Otonashi.

Otonashi lunged forward and embraced Naoi. Squeezing him tightly he yelled, "Your life was still real wasn't it?! Just like Yuri's or Hinata's! Just like mine that I cannot remember!" Otonashi was on the verge of tears. It was hard to think about the past he couldn't remember. "Your life was real! You are the one that I am embracing now! Only you. You have my full, undivided attention. And I recognize you."

Naoi was staring off into space. Emotion coming at him in waves. "You would recognize me? Even after everything?"

"Yes." Simple as that, yet it made a small change in Naoi's heart.

"Soon after, Naoi joined the Battlefront," Otonashi told them.

Ellie and Okazaki looked on at Otonashi. His story was getting deeper and deeper.

But they let him continue. And what was to come interested both Okazaki and Ellie to no end. If the story were food, it would be a delicious sirloin steak.

"I guess the next part hits me a little close to home. As it's my memories that I will be speaking of next."


End file.
